X-COM: The third war
by TehArbitur53
Summary: Three years after a second defeat by the hands of Advent, The XCOM project puts all its hopes into a strange artifact, that promises to bring them heroes. What they get instead are twelve Huntsmen and Huntresses, seven Simulation Troopers, four members of an MMO party, and a Supersoldier. (Contains XCOM, RWBY, RvB, Halo and KonoSuba) (Rated M for Language, violence and Gore.)
1. New Arrivals

Chapter 1: New Arrivals  


It has been three long years. Three years since the Advent Corporation managed to finish their Avatar Project, and fully enslave humanity. After that, they attacked the Avenger, the famous mobile fortress of the XCOM Resistance, and nearly took it down. After a long battle, the Resistance managed to drive them off, but only a handful survived, while the rest was either slaughtered, or captured.

In those three years, Advent managed to take over mulitple realities, enslaving their human population, and likely every other intelligent species. For XCOM, this was a fight they couldn't win. At least with only thirty people left on the ship, and with even more limited ressources than before.

For three years, the remains of XCOM hid in the shadows, unable to do anything. But with the recent discovery of a strange alien artifact, it should all change.

"Tygan. Shen. Did you find something out?" Bradford asked, as he and the Commander entered the Shadow Chamber, which was located in the lower parts of the ship.

"Well, the Artifact is certainly strange. It's not of Advent origin, and over thousands of years old." Tygan said.

They found the artifact in the middle of a crashed Advent vessels, and it looked like Advent wasn't to eager to get it back.

"However..." Shen activated a terminal, and showed strings of data. "We've found datastrings in there. Whoever created this artifact, knew about the Ethereals."

"That's unsettling." Bradford replied. "Is there any indication what it does?"

"And that's the interesting part." Tygan answered. "It has similiar energy readings to the gate we've found three years ago."

"So, it is a portal." The Commander said sternly.

Tygan nodded. "Three years ago, Advent took the Portal back from us. But with this object, we might be able to replicate it's functions."

"Uhm, you might want to see this." Shen interrupted, and everyone gathered around her and Rover. The little robot was showing a message on his screen. "Rover just finished decyrpting the last datastring." Shen explained. "The first ones seemed like random numbers and letters, but this one actually makes sense."

Bradford read the message. _"To the Reclaimers who read this message, you are in grave danger. The beings, known as Ethereals, have taken over the galaxy. But fear not, this device can give you the heroes you need. It will send waves through the dimensions, and give you heroes from conquered worlds, before they've been conquered."  
_

"That doesn't sound like a good idea." Tygan muttered.

"I don't know..." The Commander replied. "We could use that Artifact. If the message is true, then it might be our chance to finally get rid of Advent. Once and for all."

Bradford sighed. He knew that the Commander was right. He always was. And they didn't spend all those years hiding just to turn down a chance like this. "Can you activate it?"

"Probably. It will take a day or so." Tygan and Shen replied, and started to work on the object.

Bradford and the Commander left the Chamber, and walked to the bridge. "You think this will actually work?"

"I see it as our only chance. We don't know what kind of people live in those other worlds. I know that we are taking a gamble, but it's the only chance we've got."

They entered the bridge, and looked at the Hologlobe. It showed the areas occupied by Advent in a deep red, and those occupied by the Resistance. Most of the Earth was completely under Advent control, while only a few Resistance havens remained, and only in secluded areas like the Himalaya.

* * *

It took a day, just like Tygan promised, but the Artifact was all powered up. They plugged it into the ship systems, and first calculations told them that the activation process would most likely result in a shut down of the entire ship. Thus, they landed in the middle of the South American Jungle, so that Advent couldn't use the chance that easily.

"Ready?" Tygan asked.

"I'm still not sure about that." One of the highest ranking soldiers, Zhang, said. He was the only soldier left from the original war years ago, and was now highly decorated, and a loyal veteran. If it weren't for Bradford and the Commander, he'd be the highest authority for the operatives.

"It will work." The Commander said.

"The chances of success are incredibly low." The only SPARK unit in the room said. "Not that anything in this dump ever worked out."

"Watch your mouth, Julian." Bradford said. He had his problems with the SPARK, mostly due to his alttitude, and that he tried to kill Shen and some operatives, but Shen wanted to keep him.

"Okay..." Shen said, and tipped around on a terminal. "It goes off in three."

"Two."

"One."

"Go!" Shen pressed a button, and a bright light illuminated the entire room. Even as they held their hand in fron of their eyes, the light shined through, enabling them to see the bones inside their hands.

The light was only there for two seconds, until it dissipated. "Did it work?" The Commander asked.

As the light disappeared, it revealed probably the strangest group of people they had ever seen.

One of the new arrival, wearing a red and black dress with a cape, blinked to get the light out of her silver eyes. "Where are we?" She turned around, and looked up at one of the other arrivals. A man, standing over three meters tall, wearing a futuristic, green armor with a golden visor. "Oh my gosh! A robot!"

The 'robot' looked at Bradord, and aimed his grey rifle at him. "Identify yourself!"

Bradford held up his hands. "Central Officer Bradford. Who are you?"

The man lowered his rifle, but kept it ready, in case something would happen. "Master Chief Petty Officer John Sierra-117."

"Good to meet you." The Commander shook his armored hand, and noticed the strong grip.

He looked at the other arrivals, and he became concerned. There were seven other people in armors similiar to John's, although they all had different colors, ranging from a maroon red to a deep blue.

That wasn't a big problem though. The weapons on their backs suggested that they wear used to combat. However, most of them were teenagers, and they looked more scared than anything.

One of the teens turned towards one of the girls standing next to him. He was wearing a white shirt, with a green, gold-trimmed mantle. "I don't know what's going on, but this is probably your fault."

The one girl he was pointing at got angry. "What? I didn't do anything!" She had light blue hair, and wore a dark blue dress.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on here?" Another girl asked. She had long, yellow hair and lilac eyes.

"I agree with blondie here." One of the armored soldiers said. His armor had a dark red color, and the gun on his back looked a lot like a Shotgun.

"This isn't what I expected." Bradford muttered.

"I told you so." Zhang an Julian said at the same time.

"Listen. This might sound unbelievable..." The Commander started. "But we used this device behind you to transport you here."

They all turned around, and looked at the Artifact. "This is Forerunner." The Chief muttered.

"According to some sort of prophecy, you seem to be the ones who are destined to save humanity." Everyone turned around again, and looked at them in shock. "Follow me please."

Without any other option, they followed the XCOM officers to the bridge, and looked in awe at all the technology. The Commander positioned himself in front of them. "Twentythree years ago, a fleet of Alien ships arrived at Earth, and soon a war between them and the United Nations started. We at XCOM fought at the front, but were eventually defeated. Soon, the United Nations swore loyalty to the Aliens, and the Advent Corporation was founded. Twenty years later, a second war started, but we lost again. After that, Advent used a Psionic Gate to travel between realities, and took over other worlds." The Commander looked at the baffled newcomers. "Your worlds."

"No, that can't be." One of children said. She was wearing a white dress, and a rapier was hanging on her hip. "Remnant was never taken over by Aliens. We would've known that."

"Unfortunately..." Tygan said. "It isn't that easy. The device took you from a time when your worlds were still free. That means at least from three years ago."

"Yeah, I still don't believe that shit." One of the armored people said. His armor had a orange color.

"Then we'll show you the evidence." Bradford said, and started typing on a terminal. A couple of screens appeared, showing footage of different worlds and cities.

"That's Beacon!" One of the teenagers said. She was wearing a brown coat, and black aviators, while carrying a handbag. She pointed at one of the screens, showing smoking remains of a castle-like building. It looked like a giant meteorite crashed close to it. Advent ships were circling above the ruins.

"It's... destroyed." A girl next to her said in fear, and held her bunny ears in front of her eyes.

They all searched for their appropriate homes, and saw the same, horrifying scenes. Spaceships hovering above destroyed cities, towns and worlds. Advent facilities and cities were built above the ruins.

"But how..." One of them asked.

"How could they defeat the UNSC?" The Masterchief asked, more himself than anyone else. "Or the remains of the Covenant?"

"We have a proposal for you." The Commander said, and all attention shifted to him. "Do you want to join XCOm, and save your worlds?"

Everyone looked in shock at him.

"I can understand your hesitation, but this is urgent. We'll give you some time to think about-" Bradford explained, but was interrupted.

"Sir!" One of the officers on the bridge yelled. "Advent forces incoming!"

"Is the Avenger ready to lift off?" Bradford asked, and Shen started typing on a tablet.

"Not yet. In thirty minuted. I'm afraid we'll have to hold them off for that time."

The Commander and Bradford turned around to the arrivals. "Get to the entrance bay. We only have limited manpower, and need all the help we can get."

"But-"

"Go!" He yelled, and they all started to run.

* * *

Thanks to the signs on the way, and the people running into the same direction, it wasn't hard for the group to find the bay. One side was open, leading outside. Soldiers were positioned along barricades, and two turrets were looking around, scanning the outside for enemies.

"What's going on?" One of the girls, with a long, red ponytail, asked.

"Advent Bastards are coming in." Zhang replied. He carried a heavy machinegun. "And we have to hold them off." He getsured to some crates in the corner. "There are guns in there. Take 'em, and lend us a hand."

Everyone who didn't have a weapons ran to the crate, and took a gun. They all were automatics, and pretty easy to use. "They're coming!" The Chief yelled, and aimed at the entrance.

One of the armored soldiers activated a hilt on his hip, and a blue glowing plasma sword appeared. "Let them come."

In the distance, they were able to see multiple red lights closing in. As they came close enough, they were identified as troop carriers, using four engines to stay in the air.

The ships went down, and multiple soldiers, wearing black armor, with a helmet that hid their faces, jumped out. Red glowing rifles hang on their back. One of them had a red armor, and wore a red cape.

"Fire!" One fo the soldiers yelled, and shots started soaring through the air. Multiple Advent Soldiers went down, and the rest took covers behind trees.

"Donut! Can you get them outta there?" One of the armored soldiers said in a rough voice. A pink armored soldier nodded, and grabbed a grenade, before throwing it. It landed next to a group of trees, and blew up. The resulting fireball engulfed the tree and Alien.

"Good throw." One of the girls, with long black hair, complimented him.

"Thanks. Comes from years of tossing." Multiple XCOM soldiers turned around, and stared at him.

 _"Twenty more minutes!"_ Shen yelled over the comms.

"Alpha Team, take do-" One of the soldiers was interrupted, as something slithered near him, and started to wrap around him.

"Shit! Viper!"

The girl in the red dress grabbed a device from her back, and transformed it into a giant, red scythe. She charged forward, and to everyone's surprise, turned into rose pedals. One swing later, and the Viper was cut in two. The soldiers, as well as the Aliens, looked at her in disbelief.

"Thanks." The Soldier said as he catched his breath.

Suddenly, another woman, wearing a white knight armor, stepped in front of the girl. "Me too!"

"What?" The soldier and girl asked both.

"Come on, you don't stand a chance against guns." The boy with the white shirt said, and dragged her back.

"Uhm, we might've a problem!" One of the soldiers said, and pointed at the woods.

A robot left it. It looked like a bulky mech, with a green glowing cockpit. Massive pumps were leading from the Cockpit to other parts of the armor.

"Get the Amor piercing rounds!" Zhang yelled.

"Don't worry." One of the girls said, and stepped forward. She wore a red robe and black cape, and a black wicth hat. Her eyes were a deep crimson. She aimed a wand outside, and started to cast an incantation.

"What's she-"

"Explosion!"

Red glyphs appeared outside, and a second later, a giant explosion destroyed the forest in front of the Avenger, as well as any Advent groups. Hundreds of broken and burned treestumbs were visible as soon as the smoke disappeared, and the wrecks of crashed troop carriers laid on the ground. The robot itself was completely destroyed.

"That was awesome." One of the girls with a giant hammer, yelled, and turned around. She saw the witch on the ground.

"I can't move."

 _"What in the hell happened there?"_ Bradford yelled over the comms.

"One of the girls casted some sort of spell." Zhang answered, not trusting his own words.

 _"Come again."_ Bradford replied. _  
_

They looked outside, and noticed that most of the Advent troops were keeping their distance. "Hah! The fuckers are afraid!" One of the the soldiers yelled.

"Yes, run!" The dark red armored Spacemarine yelled. "Ya dirtbags!"

Zhang picked up the Witch, and moved her arm, to make the Aliens think that she was about to cast another spell. It worked, and they stepped back even further.

 _"Ten more minutes!"_ Shen said.

The stalemate was broken, however, as two more dropships closed in, ready to drop off reinforcements.

The turrets shot at the ships, but it didn't do a thing. More Soldiers jumped out, accompanied by two MECs. They instantly activated the weapon on their shoulder, and rockets turned the turrets into smoking wrecks.

John aimed at the robots, and shot his Rifle. Bullets hit them, but didn't do much. The robots aimed their massive guns at XCOM, and shot. The energy ripped open the chest of one soldier, and another one threw a grenade. It damaged the armor of one robot, and the Chief used the chance to run out, and attack it. He stuck a grenade into one of the cracked armor parts, and the Robot was ripped apart. The other one turned his gun around, but the Spartan knocked it away, and slagged the Robot, sending it flying back.

A flying ball flew towards the Robot, and exploded. It destroyed the Robot. The Chief looked back, and saw Julian, as the ball flew back to him.

 _"We're ready to go!"_ Shen yelled, and the Cheif ran back inside. Advent opened fire as the bay closed, and the Avenger left the site.

The soldiers inside cheered, and one of them carried away the fallen. "That was tough." The girl in red said, and approached the Chief, as well as Zhang, who was still carrying the witch. "Ruby Rose." She shook their hands.

"Colonel Zhang." The man replied. "Nice to meet you." He turned towards the Chief. "You are good."

"Thanks." The Chief replied.

Zhang looked at the girl, which slipped out of his hands, down on the ground. "And what's your name?"

"Megumin."

"Can you move?" The Masterchief asked.

"I can only use my Explosion magic once a day. It takes all my mana." She replied, getting confused looks.

"Mana?" The Chief and Zhang asked

"Are you okay?" The girl with blonde hair asked, looking at Ruby.

"Yeah, I'm okay, sis. By the way, did you do anything?"

Yang coughed, and pointed into a corner, where a dead Advent soldier was leaning against the wall. His head was bashed in.

The Chief looked at the other armored soldiers, and walked up to them. "Are you Spartans?"

They exchanged confused looks. "Uhm, no. We're simulation troopers."

"But you're wearing Mjolnir." The Chief replied.

"That's not Mjolnir. That's standard issue combat armor." One of the soldiers, wearing a maroon armor, explained.

"I guess we're from similiar timelines." One of them, wearing a deep blue armor, said.

"Wow, Caboose actually had a reasonable thought." The teal one with the sword said. "By the way, I'm Lavernius Tucker." He pointed at the others. "Those are Grif, Sarge, Simmons, Donut and Lopez."

"Ola." Lopez replied.

"Why is he speaking spanish?" Zhang asked, but didn't get an answer.

"Ladies and Gentleman." Everyone turned towards the entrance, where Bradford was coming through. "It looks like we made the right choice, at least for some of you. I'm sure you all are tired. There are some rooms ready for you. Go and get some sleep. We'll get your answer tommorow." He left again, and everyone followed Zhang to their rooms.

The rooms were scattered around a central living area, which consisted of a table with chairs and a sofa. The rooms themselves all had four beds, with a small table in the middle.

* * *

"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked, and sat down on the edge of a bed. It was surprisingly comfortable.

"Well, they ripped us out of our lives, and now want us to fight a war against an Alien Empire." Weiss replied angry. "Why should we help them?"

"Because it's our duty as huntresses." Ruby said. She had to admit, Weiss had a point.

"I agree with Ruby on that." Blake said. "If the footage is right, then there's no point in going home. Even if we could go back three years, we'd still be dead when Advent arrives."

They heard a knock on the door, and opened. Their friends entered the room. "So, did you decide?" Jaune asked.

"We'll help them." Weiss said with a sigh. "And you?"

"We'll definitely help." Nora said. "I wonder if that one girl can show me that explosion stuff."

"Don't." Ren deadpanned.

"We'll help too." Coco said, and her team nodded. "We'll kick them back to whatever planet they came from."

"And what do you think about the others?" Yang interrupted.

"That giant is certainly strong." Fox pointed out.

"Yeah, he beat those robots effortlessly." Velvet agreed.

"And the other Space Marines seem capable too." Yatsuhashi said.

"Okay. Then we'll do it." Ruby said, and punched into the air. "We'll do this. For Remnant!"

Everyone put their hands in the middle. "For Remnant!"

* * *

"This is fucking bullshit!" Grif yelled angry. "Those assholes dragged us into this!"

"Calm down. I'm sure they didn't do that on purpose." Tucker said.

"What? Are you going to fight these Aliens?" Grif asked.

"Sure. We don't have any reason to go back." Tucker replied. "Sarge is on my side, right?"

"Presicely. Not only is this a new war we can fight, the chances that Grif dies horribly is incredibly high! Hopefully he gets injected with an Alien fetus."

"Like Tucker." Caboose added.

"I'm not going to get raped by an Alien!" Grif yelled.

"Dude, either you help us, or go back alone, and face Advent when they invade." Tucker said.

Grif sighed. "Okay. But don't expect too much from me."

"We never do." Sarge mocked him.

"By the way, where's Donut?" Tucker pointed out, and looked around.

"He has his own room. Would you sleep in a room with him?" Simmons replied, and Tucker nodded in agreement.

* * *

"So, that was it with the Devil King?" Aqua asked, nearly in tears. "I'm never going to become a goddess again!"

"I had fun." Megumin said.

"I like this." Darkness added. "Millions of Aliens attacking me..."

"I just want to point out that your armor won't protect you against them." Kazuma said. "Also, please don't be turned on by the Aliens."

"What do you think?" Megumin asked their party leader.

Kazuma thought for a moment. "We can't go out there, that much is clear. I'd say we help."

"You want to help out against Aliens?" Aqua asked in surprise.

"Well, it is pretty cool. Also, I finally have access to technology again. I hope they still have the internet."

"And what's with the Devil King?" The prior goddess asked.

"Advent probably killed him already." Darkness pointed out.

"Right. When we defeat them, I might get my old place again." She replied, now just as determined as the rest of them.

"I'm happy as long as I can use explosions." Megumin said, and fell asleep.

"By the way, what's an Alien?" Darkness asked, and Kazuma sighed.

* * *

The Chief was walking around the Avenger, trying to get used to the ship. He had to admit, it was massive. For him, the decision wasn't hard. It was not only his job as a Spartan, but he also defeated the Covenant already, so another Alien empire wouldn't be too hard.

"Chief? Do you really think the Artifact was of Forerunner origin?" A female voice in his head asked.

"It looked like it. I've read the message on the robot. It called us Reclaimer. There's no doubt."

Cortana appeared on a close holoprojector. "Why would the Forerunners know about all this?"

The Spartan shrugged. "I have no idea, but it seems like they did." He looked through a nearby window, and saw a room with guns. "Time to get used to their weaponry."

* * *

Thanks to the Avenger being high in the air, it was easy to spot the morning sun through the windows. Everyone had gathered on the bridge, to tell the Commander and Bradford their decision.

"So, what is your decision?" Bradford asked, as he stepped in front of them.

"We'll help." Ruby said, and gestured towards her Team, JNPR and CFVY.

"We will too." Sarge said, and heroically cocked his Shotgun.

"We want to help." Kazuma said.

"We already know the answer from the Chief." The Commander said. "With that, I welcome all of you to the XCOM Project. From now on, we'll try to free humanity from the hands of Advent."

"What now?" Pyrrha wondered.

"We'll show you the types of enemies Advent has in stock for us, as well as test your abilities with weapons. After that, we'll assign a class to you."

"Class?" Simmons asked.

"XCOM likes to put its soldiers into one of five classes." The Commander explained. "Rangers, who use swords and shotgun, and are experts at close range."

"Sharpshooters, who specialize in taking down targets from long distances." Zhang added.

"Specialists, who use a drone to either heal and assist their comrades, or deal damage to enemies, as well as hack targets."

"Then there's the Grenadier, who uses heavy equipment to blow enemies up, and get rid of cover." Noras, as well as Megumins eyes widened as they heard that.

"And finally, we have the PSI operative, who specialize in using their mind for things like mind control." Bradford finished.

"And how do you determine our class?" Coco asked.

"Through extensive testing, where we judge your abilities." Zhang answered.

"Uhm..." Ruby spoke up. "What's with those of us that already know our abilities?"

"Those will be assigned a class based on those abilities." The Commander replied. "Now, please follow Colonel Zhang. He'll teach you about our enemies."

"Come on." The Colonel said, and left the bridge, followed by the new soldiers.

"So, what do you think?" Bradford asked.

"I think that, with the right training, they'll make good operatives." The Commander responded. "I just hope it'll be enough to kick out Advent."

* * *

 **And the start of my fourth story.**

 **I had the idea to write this when I recently played XCOM 2. I like to customize my soldiers to make them resemble characters form games, movies and series (And I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this), and I thought: Hey, why not try to make a story out of it.  
**

 **From the beginning, RWBY, Halo and RvB where settled as Franchises that would definitely play a role, so I decided to determine the last one randomly. To do that, I wrote down some Franchises I like, and assigned everyone a number, before rolling a dice one hundred times. At the end, the one with the highest amount of rolls won, in this case , I think the cast of Characters can make for some good interactions, as well as combat scenarios.  
**

 **I set XCOM and RWBY as the franchises, since XCOM is the main setting, and most of the characters are from RWBY.**

 **As for the rough outline for the story, it's not going to follow the events of XCOM 2, and is set in a timeline where XCOM lost shortly after finding the Psionic Gate. However, some of the special missions are still going to happen, since XCOM didn't do them during the war, like the one where the player first meets the Viper King. Also, all three Alien Leaders are still alive.**

 **It's not only going to play on Earth either, and the other worlds like Remnant will appear later on, just like more characters will appear.**

 **Of course, it's gonna be a lot of Characters in the beginning, but later one, the Chapters will focus on certain groups.**

 **It also doesn't have any real schedule when new Chapters are released, and they'll most likely come when they are ready.**

 **And in case someone wonders when the characters came here:**

 **RWBY: Between Volume 2 and 3**

 **Masterchief: Shortly after Halo 3**

 **RvB: Between Season 13 and 15**

 **KonoSuba: After Season 2**

 **With that said, I'm happy about every bit of Feedback. Enjoy the story.**

 **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou**


	2. School time

Chapter 2: School time

The group sat down inside of the makeshift classroom. Well, if one could even call it that. It only consisted of a couple of benches, with a whiteboard and a desk in front.

Zhang entered the room, together with Tygan. They had a projector with them, and put it down on the desk. "Now, first off, we'll show you the enemies you'll have to deal with." Zhang started. "Doctor Tygan, could you please start the presentation?"

He nodded, and activated the projector. It projected a human-like creature on the wall, one they had fought during the landing. "This is an Advent Soldier. There isn't anything special about them. They have a gun, and are fragile. They'll use strategies like taking cover, but just aim for their head, and take the bastards out. However, they are predictable, since all of them are connected to a psionic network, like a hivemind."

"Uhm, one question." Blake asked. "Are they human?"

Tygan shook his head. "Not anymore. We know that they are gentically engineered creatures, made out of humans."

Zhang pressed a button, and the projection of another soldier appeared, this time with red highlights and a cape. "Those are their officers. They're tougher than the regular soldier, and can mark you and your squadmates. This will increase the aim of their allies." He explained.

"What? Does he draw a bulleye on us?" Kazuma asked.

"They use their implants and psionic network to do that." Tygan explained.

"Anyways, there are also two other, specialized Advent Soldiers." Zhang brought up the projection of two more soldiers, one carrying a sword on his back, and the other one having heavier armor. "Those are the Stun Lancers and the Shieldbearers. While the Stun Lancers go in close, to deliver a strike with the Stun Blades, the Shieldbearers will create a hardlight shield around their fellow Aliens. However, they can be brought down with concentrated fire, and when the Shieldbearer dies, the shields all go down. Of course, any of these come with more armor, if Advent feels like it."

"What happens if the lancer hits?" Darkness asked.

"You could get stunned, but even if that doesn't happen, you will definitely get hurt by the shock." Zhang said. "I'd advise not to get hit." He looked at her, and noticed that she blushed and moved in her seat. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's turned on. Just ignore it." Kazuma replied.

Zhang shook his head. "Great. A masochist." He pressed another button, and the device projected a new creature on the wall. It looked like a stereotypical Alien, with a strange device on its wrist. "That's a Sectoid. The little grey man we all know from movies. They can use their psionic powers to control your mind, or bring you in panic. The object on their wrist is a plasma gun. Luckily, they are fragile."

"What exactly do you mean with 'Control your mind'?" Simmons wondered.

"I mean it litteraly. They can control your actions. However, with enough willpower, you can fight it, and break free."

He pressed the button again, and a snake showed up. It had two arms. "This are Vipers. Ruby already took one down while defending the Avenger, but you shouldn't take them lightly. They'll draw you to them with their tongues, and then wrap themselves around you. This will either choke you, or press the organs out of your body. To make them even more dangerous, they are extremely mobile, and can shoot poisonous clouds."

Everyone gulped. That was something they didn't want to face.

The next picture showed something that could only be descriped as a mass of meat. "This ugly Motherfucker is a Faceless. They may look weak, but they are incredibly strong, and can shatter stones with their massive claws. They are hard to miss though, since they are roughly three meters tall. However, they can shapeshift, meaning that every civilian you see could be one. There are signs though, like that they never speak. Or the really, really bad stench."

"Are they rare?" Yang asked.

"Not really. They are often amongst the civilians, setting up surprise attacks. Always be careful about that." He pressed the button, and a four-legged, purple insect appeared. "This thing is a Chryssalid. Those are the worst. They hide underground, and jump out when you get near. Once they've got you, they'll inject a venom, that will make you unable to move. After that, it'll lay eggs into you, turning you into a living cocoon, and the babies feed on your insides while you're still alive."

"Okay, that is messed up." Grif said. "Do these suits help?"

"Well, they'd have a field day with you, fat ass." Simmons said. "But seriously, do these suits help?"

"We might need to run some tests, but from seeing them alone, maybe." Zhang answered.

"Can we have them as pets?" Caboose wondered, and everyone slowly turned towards him. "I want to name mine Fluffy."

"Let's just carry on..." Zhang said in disbelief. The next picture was that of a big, bulky creature, with a green armor. "This is a Muton. It's big, mean, and can easily kill you. For their size, they're surprisingly fast. They carry big plasma rifles, and like to throw grenades. Their rifles also have a sharp edge, which they use for close quarter combat."

"What's a grenade?" Megumin asked.

"An explosion in a little ball. Pull the pin, and throw it." Ruby explained, and Megumin's eyes shined with anticipation.

"And really, throw it." Zhang added. "We had rookies that accidently threw the pin instead." He opened up the next picture, and it showed another Muton. This one looked like someone pulled the skin off a Muton, leaving the muscles open. It also looked a lot bigger. "Like the normal muton, those Berserkers are incredibly strong. They're the females of their species, and can crush you with one fist. They don't carry guns though, so just keep your distance. They can also let out a roar that boosts the bloodlust of their fellow Mutons."

He proceeded to the next enemy type. It were the robots the Chief defeated yesterday. "This are the MECs. They have armor, but aren't as tough as they look. Their armor is easily broken, and then it's only a question of how much ammo you can pump into them. However, they have grenade launchers on their backs, but only have one shot. There's also a red, stronger version, but it follows the same principal. It's also possible to hack them, to either take control of them, or shut them down."

The next creature appeared. This one looked like some sort of godly entity. It had a purple body, with golden ornaments around. A golden helmet covered the face, and the lower body was missing. Instead, it had thrusters. It carried a spear around. "This is the Archon. It can fly, as you may have already guessed. Those things are incredibly tough, and can withstand a number of hits. They like to attack in close range, using their spears. The thing you've to be the most aware of is their movement though. They will try to grab you, fly up, and thrust you into the ground. Additionaly, they can fly up, and send out a barrage of rockets, that will eventually hit your position. So when they go up, make sure to change your positions."

"They sound like a pain in the ass." Coco pointed out.

Zhang laughed. "You have no idea. Next up is the Andromedon." He showed a picture of the robot they, or Megumin, defeated last night. "Those guys are dangerous. Despite their appearance, they're actually Aliens in Mech suits. They can't breathe our atmosphere, so they have to use those. It uses stored acid as bombs, as well as a plasma rifle."

"Can't we just aim at the Cockpit?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, doesn't seem too hard." Tucker agreed.

"Well, once the Alien inside is dead, the suit's AI activates, essentially turning it into a Robot. It will loose it's ability to use the rifle, but will try to punch you, and is harder to take down. Even worse, it's likely that the battle damaged the suit, and acid leaks out. This means everywhere it steps is a death zone."

He pressed the button once again, and another creature appeared. It looked like a woman, with a completely golden body. Black mist created some form of hair. "This is the Codex. It has incredible psionic potential, and uses it to block your weapons, an effect that can easily be reversed by simply reloading."

"This creature consists of pure energy." Tygan added. "We think that they're a defense mechanism of Advent's computer networks. They teleport, and clone themselves if they sustain too much damage. So try to hit them with strong attacks."

"Great. AIs are still going to ruin our lives." Grif and Tucker muttered.

"Next, we have the Gatekeeper." The picture of a big, one-eyed ball appeared on the wall.

"That doesn't look that bad." Jaune said happily.

"Those are some of Advent's strongest units." Zhang said, and Jaune sighed. "Their shell gives the impression of a robot, but the inside is actually pure flesh, displaying a high amount of biomechanical engineering. They can use either an energy beam, which is luckily very inaccuarate, or open their shell, and use their extremely high psionic powers. For example, they can use it to raise the dead, and deal massive damage to everything in the radius of the attack."

"Wait, raise the dead? Do you mean Zombies?" Aqua asked.

"Precisely."

"I will just purify them." Aqua said smugly, and leaned back.

"Their shell is extremely hard, so try to deal heavy damage when it's open." Zhang explained. "And next up, we have the Sectopod." The picture of a big, two legged, gray robot appeared. "Those things are the biggest danger you can encounter on the battle field. Both literally and figuratively. They use rockets, lasers and plasma to not only destroy you, but probably also everything around your position. If you are ever unfortunate enough to encounter one, concentrate fire on it. And don't stay close, it will explode upon destruction."

"Oh dear..." Velvet muttered.

"The last one we know of is the so-called Avatar." The picture of a man appeared. He held a purple rifle in his hand, wore some sort of dark, black and purple armor, and a red visor. The grey hair of the being stood up. "Those are Advent's most dangerous assets. Their high psionic powers give them nearly god-like abilities. From simple mind-control, up to using psionic energy to create giant spears and even melee weapons. Even worse, they constantly heal themselves, and teleport a lot, making it hard to pin down. Additionaly, they can take a good amount of hits."

"And how can we take them down?" Pyrrha asked. Everyone seemed slightly afraid, except for Sarge, Nora, Darkness and Masterchief.

"Like every other enemy. Shoot it until it dies." Zhang said. "With that out of the way, please come to the firing range. We'll access your ability with weapons next."

* * *

"This is one of our most treasured rooms, the armory. If you need a weapon, or Ammo, just come here and ask our lovely friend." Zhang said, and patted the officer on the back. He almost fell over, thanks to Zhangs strength.

The armory was located in the front of the ship, next to the hangar. Different kinds of weapons hang on the walls, ranging from Assault Rifles and Pistols to Sniper Rifles and Grenade Launchers.

"Yes, just come by." He said. "I'm Lieutnant Rogers."

"Aren't you a soldier too?" Yatsuhashi asked, and pointed at his rank insignia on Rogers' shoulder.

"Well, I was. But one of those Berserkers got me good. My leg is actually mechanical, and with our limited ressources, we aren't able to keep it in check during and after firefights."

"Where do you get your ressources from anyways?" Tucker asked. "Doesn't Advent have the Earth under control?"

"Not entirely." Zhang replied. "There are still three save havens out there, and a couple of small black markets. They are all positioned in hard-to-reach areas, so that Advent either won't find them, or won't bother."

"Okay, that's at least something." Coco said.

"Now, everyone grab a weapon, and come over to the firing range." Zhang said, and left towards it.

Half an hour later, everyone had a weapon, simple Assault Rifles for the most part, and stood in a line. "Okay. First off, we've got Ruby. Show us what you got."

Ruby stepped forward, and took the rifle she grabbed in the armory. Her normal weapon, Crescend Rose, wasn't working. Weiss explained last night that Dust only worked on Remnant, so they would have to use regular weapons. She aimed at the target, which fittingly looked like a Sectoid, and pressed the trigger. The shot nailed the head, and everyone cheered.

"Not bad. Are you a Sniper?"

"Actually, I am." Ruby said proud, and stepped to the side.

Next on was Weiss. She needed a couple more shots, but hit too. "Okay... You need to work on your aim, but it'll work out."

She nodded, and Blake stepped forward. Unlike the others, she grabbed a pistol, and aimed at the target. the shot hit perfectly. "You got experience with pistols, right?"

"I do. My normal weapon is a pistol." Blake explained, and let Yang take a shot.

She aimed at the top of the target, and led her weapon down while firing, riddling the whole target with holes.

"That took a lot of ammo." Rogers pointed out.

"Well, I'm not that good on range, so I thought that might work out well." Yang replied, and stepped to the rest of her team, while Rogers wrote down the results.

Jaune took his rifle, and shot. It hit the body after three shots. Pyrrha on the other hand nailed her shot.

After her, Nora went in front, and aimed. She did the same thing like Yang, and Zhang shook his head. "You're wasting too much ammo out on the field. Work on that."

Nora shrugged, and let Ren take a shot. He let out a short burst of fire. "Okay, at least someone has actually used an Automatic before." Zhang said.

Ren nodded, and made room for Coco. She mowed down the target with her gun. "Okay, that isn't a Minigun, you know?" Rogers said in shock.

"I know." Coco replied, and put her aviators back in place. "But I'm used to Miniguns."

"Write down Grenadier for her." Zhang said to Rogers, and he noted it.

Next was Velvet. She took the gun, and used it perfectly. "Whoa. Not bad. Didn't expect that from you."

"Well, you can thank my Semblance for that." Velvet replied, and went over to Coco.

Zhang and Rogers wondered what exactly she meant with Semblance, but shrugged it off for now, since Fox was already standing in front. He hesitated. "Is everything okay?"

"I can't use that." Fox replied.

"What?"

"I'm blind." He answered.

Zhang sighed. "Great. Stand by the others, we'll try to figure something out."

He nodded, and put himself to he rest of his team.

Yatsuhashi stepped forward, and shot. It hit the mark, and Zhang wrote it down. "All right. Next one please."

Sarge stepped forward. Instead of grabbing a rifle, he had his Shotgun, and shot. The shells didn't even reach the target. He shot again, and again. "The hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to intimidate him." Sarge replied.

"Dude, a Shotgun doesn't work at that distance." Yang pointed out.

"Dammit." Sarge replied, and put his shotgun back.

"Can you use anything else?" Zhang asked.

"Nope."

The Colonel turned towards Sarge's team. "Is he a good shot with the Shotgun?"

Simmons nodded. "Yeah, when he gets in range."

"Good. Sarge, step to the side, and make room for Simmons."

He stepped to the side, and Simmons took his shot. It hit the mark well enough. Same with Grif and Donut. "At least some capable people here." Zhang muttered.

"Don't say that too early." Tucker said as he stepped forward. He shot, and hit the target. "Trust me, they're not exactly soldiers. None of us are." He made room for Lopez, who hit the target perfectly.

"Okay, that's impressive."

"Soy un robot. Estoy a salvo de tu incompetencia. (I'm a robot. I'm safe from their incompetence.)"

"Get the dictionary." Zhang said to Rogers, and the Lieutnant nodded.

The last member of the Reds and Blues, Caboose, was the next one. He stepped forward, and looked. "Caboose!" Tucker yelled from the sidelines. "That target's your ally!"

"Oh, really?" Caboose said like a child, and shot the target perfectly.

"I don't even wanna know what that means." Zhang muttered.

Caboose stepped aside, making room for the Masterchief. He nailed every shot. "All right, that was impessive." Zhang said.

The Chief nodded, and stepped aside.

"All right. That would be everyone who actually knows how to use a gun, right?" They nodded. "Okay. Everyone who already took their shots, please go to the bridge."

They left, leaving the last four people alone. "Good. Now, let me show you how to reload a rifle." Rogers said, and demonstrated the process. It was pretty simple. "Of course, every kind of gun works differently. However, we'll go into more detail about that once you've got your class. The basics should be clear though. Point it at the enemy, and pull the trigger. Every gun also has a safety feature, most off the time consisting of a simple mechanical button. Please, keep your gun save when you're not fighting. We don't want any accidents. Now..." He handed Kazuma a rifle. "Please try to hit the target."

Kazuma aimed the crosshair at the target's head, and pressed the trigger. The head exploded. "Not bad."

"Thanks." Kazuma went up to Zhang and Rogers. "Don't get your hopes up for my friends." He left, an Aqua was next.

She aimed, and hit the target after six bursts of fire. "Well, it's not exactly bad. Typical Rookie quota."

Aqua smiled, and made room for Megumin. "Can I use a grenade?"

"We're testing your ability with a gun. Once this is over, you can try yourself with a grenade launcher."

She shrugged, and shot. It gave off the same results as Aqua. "Okay, next one please."

Darkness stepped forward. "Okay... aim and..." She pulled the trigger, and emptied an entire magazine. However, none of the bullets hit.

Everyone starred at her in shock. "That's embarassing." Kazuma muttered.

Zhang needed a minute to collect his thoughts. "All right. That was... something. We'll find something else for you. Follow me, we still have something to discuss."

* * *

Zhang led them to the bridge, where the others were already waiting. "And, how did it go?" Fox asked.

"You don't wanna know." Zhang said, and walked up to the Hologlobe. "This is the bridge, the center of the Avenger."

"From here, we'll watch over your operations, and plan our next steps." Bradford added. "However, when you're here, please don't touch anything. Our equipment is extremely sensitive."

"Is this the only reason you called us here?" Grif wondered.

"It is not." The Commander said, as he entered the bridge. "You need to know our allies."

Bradford took a pad, and started to mark locations on the Hologlobe. The first was a point in the middle of the Himalaya. "This is Mars, one of our remaining Resistance Havens. Additionally, it is the biggest one, and could nearly be decribed as a small city." The next point of interest was in the middle of the Sahara desert. "This is Deimos, our smallest Haven. It's built inside a maze of canyons and caves, perfect to hide and dig for materials." The next, and last, marker was in the middle of the Pacific. "And this is Phobos, our last Outpost. It contains a small, isolated Island Chain, in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to all the water, Advent doesn't think they are a threat."

"Is this all that's left?" Ruby asked.

"At least here. We have reason to believe that there may be Resistance movements in your worlds. It's important to note that all the Havens have their purpose. While Phobos supplies us with food, Deimos digs up materials under the desert. Mars is our HQ."

"Wait, does that mean we're visiting the Himalaya?" Ren wondered.

"Not for now." The Commander interrupted. "Deimos recently gave us valuable information, implying that a prisoner transport was send out to a Advent base in the desert."

"And?"

"And we want this to be your first mission. Of course we won't send everyone." Bradford explained. "Firebrand has room for six operatives, and we want to sent Zhang along to aid you."

They looked at Zhang. "Did you know of this?"

"Not until now. But I'm more than happy to give some Rookies advice again."

"And who will go?" Aqua asked.

"We planned to send in a squad consisting of the following people." The Commander said, and six holographic screens appeared. "First off, Zhang as the team leader. Then we will sent along Miss Rose, as our Sniper. We've viewed the footage of your weapon tests, and think that it would be best that way. Then we want to send the Masterchief, as our heavy hitter. The rest of the team would consist of Mister Tucker, Sarge and Pyrrha."

"Wait, what's with us?" Megumin asked.

"You still need a bit of training." Bradford explained.

"I'll show you the way to Firebrand." Zhang said.

"All right..." Sarge said, cocking his Shotgun. "Let's save us some prisoners."

* * *

 **And the second Chapter is out.**

 **With all the setup and introductions out of the way for now, the real stuff (Missions, Training and so on) are finally starting.**

 **Now to reply to some reviews:**

 **Edrap: Yeah, the Weiss trailer was really good.**

 **Ellight1: I will look into adding Titanfall. I've never played the game, or watched much of it, but I'll see what I can do. I was planning to maybe add two or three more franchises later in the story anyway. As for War of the Chosen, probably, but it has to release first, so that I can see how I can work them into the story.**

 **SignalHunter: I will add War of the Chosen when it either comes out, or when we know the story of the DLC. The Chosen themselves might appear earlier though, like the Lost.**

 **Spacenazi: I have no idea if that was english, german, or a weird mix of the two.**

 **Guest: Yep, Advent is pretty strong. It should be noted that the Covenant was scattered at the point they arrived, so some of the Splinter Factions joined Advent, helping them.**

 **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou**


	3. Burning Sands

Chapter 3: Burning Sands

"So, you are the new guys the operatives talked about?" Firebrand asked as the team entered the hangar. A lone dropship stood in the back, the bay already wide open, and ready to leave.

"Well, yeah. Nice to meet you." Tucker replied. "So, how's this gonna work?"

"I'll drop you off close to the objective, and then you'll have to finish your mission on your own." Firebrand reached into a crate inside the ship. "However, if things go south, you can use theses to mark a LZ, where I can pull you out." She handed everyone some sort of light blue glowstick. "Now get in, we don't have much time."

They all took a weapon from a nearby rack, and entered the ship, sitting down in the seats. However, one member of the team was missing. "Wait, where's Zhang?" Pyrrha asked. At this moment, the operative entered the room, carrying a crate.

"What's in there?" Sarge asked.

"Equipment." He opened the crate, and handed a Medikit to Pyrrha. "Spray this on someone to heal him." Next, he took a couple of red magazines, and gave them to Ruby. "These are Dragon Rounds. They'll set an enemy on fire upon hitting him. And for the Chief..." He took a green grenade. "This is an Acid Grenade."

The Chief took the explosive, and attached it to his armor. "Firebrand, we're ready."

"All right, ready for a lift-off." The Pilot said, and they felt how the engines of the ship started up.

A holographic screen appeared in the troop bay, together with a livefeed of Bradford. _"Your mission is in the middle of North Africa. Close to the Hoggar mountains, to be precise. According to Scouts from Deimos, Advent is currently supervising a prisoner transport to a nearby prison. We want you to intercept the transport, and free the prisoners. They don't know you are coming, so try to use that to your advantage."_

"We're here." Firebrand said. "Get ready."

"What? That was fast." Pyrrha pointed out.

"We weren't far away from our goal to begin with." Zhang explained, as the bay opened, and ropes fell down, providing a way to get down quiet and easy.

They all took a rope, and slid down, landing between a couple of rocks. The Chief, however, had his problems with the rope, and Firebrand had to go down so that the Spartan could get out.

"Okay, keep quiet." Zhang said, and they snuck around some stones, until they got out of the immediate area.

They found themselves on a small cliff, overlooking a valley. Traintracks were going through the valley, ending at a building. Thanks to the design of the building, it wasn't hard to guess who it belonged too. The walls were black and red, while the red Advent-Logo was presented on the sides.

A small train had stopped in front of the building, and two Advent Soldiers were guarding the entrance.

"Is that the prison?" Ruby asked, and Zhang nodded.

"It's so small." Sarge pointed out.

"It's more viable to have small amounts of prisoners in areas like that than in big prisons. Even if the prisoners here would overthrow their keepers, they'd die from the heat and lack of supplies."

"Efficient." The Chief added. "I see an entrance on the western side of the building."

"Ah yes, the good old door that's used to get rid of wastes. Should be easy to get in." Zhang said, and looked for a path that would lead to the door. There were a couple of big rocks on the way, so there was enough cover if they would get spotted.

They started to sneak around the rocks, slowly making their way to the entrance. Sarge and Tucker took position next to the door, while everyone else used a rock or crate as cover. Zhang counted down from three, and Tucker opened the door at zero.

To their surprise, the inside was completely unguarded. It looked like Advent really didn't expect anyone to come here.

They went in, and started to go from cover to cover. Luckily, there were a lot of machines and cleaning utensils standing around, so cover wasn't a problem. As they approached a narrow hallway, Zhang stopped.

Three figures came out of the dark. It was a small platoon consisting of two Soldiers and one Officer. The Officer pointed at the crates with dirty laundry and waste, and the Soldiers started moving them.

"Great timing." Ruby muttered. Everyone tried to move, so that they wouldn't be spotted by Advent.

"Don't they have Janitors?" Tucker muttered to Zhang.

"I guess that it's so quiet out here, that Advent didn't bother to hire one. And that there isn't much else to do for the Soldiers."

One of the Soldiers picked up the crate Sarge was hiding behind, and stopped as he spotted him.

Sarge aimed his Shotgun at the Soldier, and shot. The Alien fell down instantly, with a gaping hole in the body. The other two turned around.

"Great, they spotted us." Zhang yelled, and took his Chaingun, which he used to mow down the second Soldier.

The Officer took cover behind the doorway leading out into the hallway, and shot at Tucker. The shots grazed his shoulder, and Ruby retaliated with her Sniper Rifle. It hit the upper body of the Officer, and he tried to run, and warn the others.

"Forget it!" Pyrrha yelled, and threw her spear, guiding it all the way into his chest.

"How did you do that?" Zhang asked, as Pyrrha went into the hallway to retrieve her spear.

"I used my Semblance." Pyrrha lifted up a small piece of metal with her power. "I can control magnetism."

"Huh, that's useful. We'll have to discuss this later."

They went into the hallway, and took cover before Tucker opened the next door. It led straight into the room with the cells. All of them were seperated by a simple, locked door. Not much security, but it probably wasn't needed anyways.

"It looks like there are four cells." A female voice said.

"Who was that?" Ruby asked.

"Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am UNSC AI Cortana."

"What? Where are you?" Zhang asked, and looked around.

"I'm inside Chief's helmet." Cortana explained.

"An AI sounds useful." Tucker said. "Well, unless it's made by Project Freelancer."

They heard a door open, and quickly dove into cover. They saw two Soldiers entering the room, assisted by one Sectoid. They stepped in, and a Stun Lancer entered behind them, closing the door.

The Sectoid walked up to one of the cells, and unlocked the door through a small panel. The Chief managed to get a glimpse inside, and saw a woman. The Sectoid pulled out a fruit from a bag, and threw it inside the cell, before locking it again.

"They are feeding them." The Spartan said.

After the Sectoid gave food to the last inmate, it turned back towards the door, as one of the Soldiers pressed the side of his helmet. It talked in a strange, alien language, before pointing into the room.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked.

The Stun Lancer activated his blade, and started to look behind some crates. "I think they know we're here." Tucker said.

"Then let's give them a warm welcome." Zhang said, and took a Grenade. He pulled out the pin, and threw the explosive. It landed under on of the Soldiers, blowing him up.

The other Soldiers swung their Rifles around, shooting into the direction the Grenade came from. Zhang dived out of the way, and Ruby took a shot at the Stun Lancer. The Bullet pierced his shoulder, and set him on fire.

The Lancer ran around in panic, and tried to hit someone with his blade, before he fell down. "Okay, two out of four." Zhang said.

Suddenly, purple energy appeared around the Sectoid's head, and it looked into Sarge's direction. The Soldier stood up, and ran towards Tucker. Said man managed to dodge, as Sarge shot his Shotgun in his direction.

"Dude, what the fuck?"

"I can't control myself!" Sarge yelled. "It's like some diabolical spirit took control of me!"

"The Sectoid is controlling him!" Zhang said.

The Chief stood up, and shot a burst of bullets at the Sectoid. It hit it's head, and the Sectoid fell down, while an puddle of orange blood appeared around him.

Sarge stopped, and catched his breath. "I'm sorry."

"No problem." Tucker replied, and stabbed his sword through the last Soldier, who tried to sneak up on him.

"Can we barricade the door?" Ruby asked.

Sarge responded by shooting the lock with his Shotgun. "It think this is enough." However, it looked like John didn't think so, and threw his Acid Grenade, turning the entrance into a lake of acid. Sarge scoffed in response. "Show off."

"Okay, let me see if we can open those cells up." Zhang said, and started typing on a keyboard, but stopped after a couple of seconds. "Dammit! They really upped their security."

"Let me try." Cortana suggested.

"Go ahead. But try not to get caught."

"Don't worry."

They waited a minute, until the lights on all doors turned green. The Chief instantly went inside the first one, and found that the person inside was in a hazmat suit. "What the-?" And then, he noticed that the prisoner wasn't moving.

Tucker stepped up next to him. "Is he dead?"

"Cortana, can you check his vitals?"

"No problem. He's unconscius."

"Why? Didn't they just throw food in here?" Tucker asked in confusion.

"It seems to be a security precaution." The Chief guessed, and pointed at tubes, going from the wall into the suit.

"You mean they shut them off when the door opens?"

The Chief nodded, ripped the tubes out of the suit, and carried the prisoner outside. "Do the same with the others."

Everyone complied, and they got all the prisoners out of their cells. "Should we open the suits?" Pyrrha asked.

"We can do that in Firebrand. For now, let's make sure they stay alive until we're save."

Everyone took one of the prisoners, and threw him over their shoulder. Except for Ruby, thanks to her being the weakest of the group. However, she was able to cover their backs. And it became clear that that was needed as soon as they stepped outside. The Guards at the entrance were walking around in panic, searching for the intruders. However, thanks to the fact that the night broke on, it was easy to avoid their gaze.

While they got back to their LZ, Ruby watched the guards, and waited until they were close to a fuel-container. She pressed the trigger, and the bullet hit the container, engulfing both Advents in a fireball, and setting the courtyard on fire.

They eventually arrived at the LZ, indicated by a square of blue flashes. They stepped inside, and Firebrand came out of a nearby stone structure, before gracefully landing in front of them. Or at least as gracefully as a Dropship that size can land.

"Don't you usually throw out a rope?" Zhang asked as he stepped inside the bay.

"Not as long as out green friend forgets to work out." The Pilot joked.

They waited until everyone was inside, and took off. John put the prisoner he was carrying on the ground. The rest of them were put down in a corner, and held tight by cables, so they wouldn't get hurt throughout the fly.

"Let's see who they captured..." Zhang said, and slowly removed the helmet, only to gasp in surprise.

"What is it? Who's that?" Ruby asked excited.

"The Commander is going to be very happy about this..." Zhang muttered, and everyone else exchanged confused looks.

* * *

The Commander and Bradford were already waiting in the hangar of the Avenger, as Firebrand landed. They were happy to see that the mission was a success. The bay slowly opened, and everyone stepped outside, proud and happy.

"You all did some good work out there." Bradford complimented them. "As a declaration of our gratitude, all of you will recieve their official roles tommorrow."

"Yeah, we're getting ranks!" Ruby yelled happy. "Am I going to be a Sniper?"

Bradford smiled. "I think you can answer that yourself. I also believe that Sarge's role should be obvious. You all deserve some down-time. Go to the bar or recreational room."

"Oh yeah, time to get some booze!" Tucker said, and left, followed by everyone else, except Zhang and Masterchief.

"Commander." Zhang said, and got his attention. "I think there might be someone among the prisoners you'd like to see."

"What?" He asked, and looked at the dropship, as a man stepped out.

He was still wearing his haz-mat suit, but the lights of the hangar reflected in his bald head, before he greeted them with a deep, booming voice. "Hello, Commander."

* * *

Ruby entered the Bar together with Tucker, and saw that a couple of people were already inside. Nora was sitting at a table, discussing something with Megumin, while Yang was sitting at the counter with Kazuma, and it looked like both were having a good time. Next to them, Aqua was passed out, probably from too much alcohol, if the flask in her hand was anything to go by.

Even though XCOM was in pretty bad shape, the bar still seemed like a happy place. Everyone was having fun, and even the scent of alcohol in the air wasn't as bad as expected. There even was a soccer game and arcade machines in the back, as well as a stage for karaoke.

"Seems like you've finally found us." The man behind the bar said. Ruby and Tucker sat down next to Yang and Kazuma.

"This looks a lot better than expected." Tucker said.

"We've renovated just recently. What can I get you?"

"Uhm, I take a normal Beer." Tucker said.

"And I-"

"Just so you know, I won't give children any alcohol." The man interrupted, and nodded to Nora's table. "I already had that discussion with Miss Megumin."

"No problem. Can I have an Orange Juice?" Ruby asked, and Tucker had to hold in his laughter.

"Sure thing, wait a moment." With that, the man disappeared into a room behind the bar.

While the Bartender started to get Ruby's 'drink' ready, Yang turned towards her sister. "Hey sis. I've heard you were successful?"

"Yeah, we saved a couple of people. What did you do in the time?"

"Trained a bit. Together with the others." Yang said, and pointed at Kazuma.

"And how did it go?" Tucker asked.

"Well, better than expected. For the most part." Yang said, and took a swig from her drink. Judging by the umbrella, it was a Strawberry Sunrise.

"Yeah, we really did good, according to Rogers." Kazuma threw in.

"He just said that he was surprise you survived a beating from Team CFVY." Yang replied amused.

"Why did they beat you up?" Ruby asked. She saw that the Bartender brought her the Juice, and she took the glass, before paying with some of the money they received from Bradford.

"They told us to show of what we can do." Kazuma said. "Of course, I used my refined 'Steal' technique."

"What?" Ruby and Tucker asked confused.

"He used some sort of spell to steal Velvet's panties." Yang said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Dude, you gotta teach me how that works." Tucker said.

"Not possible. You don't have a Adventurerer Card."

"A what?"

"Anyways, he was just telling me about his Adventures with Aqua and Co." Yang explained further. "Interesting stuff. Their world is filled with magic."

"Can't Ruby burst into Rose pedals?" Tucker asked in confusion.

Yang catched a glimpse of Nora and Megumin leaving the Bar together, poked Kazuma with her elbow, and nodded towards the two. "This isn't good."

Kazuma thought for a second, and nodded. "Right. We should stop them." Both stood up, and left, running after the two girls.

"You think this will end well?" Tucker asked.

"Let's just say I'm worried." Ruby said, and took another, big swig from her Orange Juice.

* * *

The Commander and Bradford were sitting inside the Commander's quarters, with a flask of good old whisky on the table. The silence was interrupted, as the door opened.

"Commander. Bradford."

"Councilman." The Commander said, and shook his hand. "Our first reunion was a bit short-lived, I apologize for that."

"Don't worry. I'm thankfull that you got me out of that hellhole."

"What happened to you anyways?" Bradford asked, as the Councilman sat down. "Your messages just stopped one day."

"Advent caught me. I put up a fight, but they still managed to capture me." He opened the alcohol, and poured it into his cup. "Apparently I had too much viable information about XCOM, so they locked me up instead of executing me. I suppose that XCOM is still in bad shape?"

"We found an Alien Artifact a couple of weeks ago. After we analyzed it, it turned out that it was able to send us new soldiers from other realities." Bradford explained. "Of course, those were the people that rescued you."

"At least we've got some capable people on the front."

"I wouldn't call them all capable." Bradford said, painfully reminded of the training, and the 'Accident', involving Caboose, Darkness and Nora.

The Councilman took a swig of his whisky. "I'm pretty sure you are already aware of it, but I won't be able to feed you information from inside Advent anymore."

"Yes, we knew that." The Commander replied. "However, I think we have a position for you."

"Exactly." Bradford added. "The Leader of Mars recently died due to illness, and we haven't found a fitting replacement up until now. We think that you might be the perfect choice to fill that position."

"Sounds like a good plan. When will we arrive?"

"Tomorrow morning." Bradford, the Commander and the Councilman raised their glasses to take a toast. "Good to have you back."

* * *

 **And the third Chapter is here, together with the biggest Badass in the XCOM Universe.  
**

 **Honestly, thinking of missions is a lot of fun, especially planning out how it would go with the Characters involved.  
**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Ellight1: The Hunter DLC will take part in this. I already explained last time that XCOM simply didn't do the Vahlen mission yet, so this will happen later on. That also means every leader is still alive.**

 **Edrap: Yeah, that yould probably be how that goes. (Or whoever controls him dies instantly due to feedback damage.)**

 **ThatTallGuy: Well, it's not empty. There are the Mental Images. Now that I think about it, that would make for a great situation.**

 **MadJaeger00: My Hero Academia won't make an appearence. A good amount of the Characters are too strong for this kind of story. However, Titanfall will probably come in later on.**

 **SignalHunter: Yeah, she probably would miss with a Gremlin. Aqua being a templar, Ruby a Reaper and Yang a skirmisher sounds good. I'll probably do that. Thanks for the idea. (I'm still thinking about fitting classes for some of the characters.) As for RSS, I'll look into it. I never played the game, but watched a lot of gameplay. Maybe I'll just add them as Soldiers that already are at XCOM.**

 **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou**


	4. Mars

Chapter 4: Mars

It was a rough landing, but it was the best possible one, as the Avenger set down in the cold mountain ranges of the Himalaya. Snowstorms ravaged around the area just a few hours ago, making it impossible to land.

Thus, the Avenger had to wait until the snow around the Landing Zone was shoved away. But now, they had finally arrived in Mars, the biggest of the three Havens on Earth.

The Bay opened slowly, and the cold air from the outside instantly filled the inside of the Hangar, as if an angry Ice Spirit took its revenge. Luckily, XCOM provided insulating jackets to everyone, or at least those that needed one.

But still. "Damn, it's cold here." Aqua said.

"Get used to it," Bradford said. "This is our HQ, so you'll spend some time here."

"Can we at least go outside now?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, the ship is getting a little bit boring." Grif added. "And it's getting harder and harder to keep Caboose and Sarge away from the important areas."

"Most of the paperwork is already taken care of, so enjoy yourselves. If anything happens, I'll call you on your pads." Bradford said, and everyone nodded, before heading out into the settlement.

* * *

"I expected it to be sadder." Nora stated. After leaving the Avenger, they all divided into different groups. Nora was with Ren, Coco, Megumin, Lopez and Caboose.

"Maybe they're just happy with what they have." Ren said, and looked at a group of children playing with a couple of stones. "Although they don't seem to have much."

"Not surprising." Coco replied. "I doubt that much stuff comes up here. That reminds me, how do they get supplies up here anyways?"

"I'd guess the Avenger does that for them."

Lopez looked at the buildings around them, as they entered an alleyway. Most of the houses were made out of stone, so they were at least sturdy. However, there were also many shacks made out of metal and tarps, so he guessed that this town already existed before it became the Mars Haven, and those 'buildings' were added by refugees. The path under them was covered in snow, but he could notice the stone under it.

"Any idea where we should go?" Megumin asked.

"Maybe there's an information somewhere. Or a central plaza." Nora guessed. "That could be a good place to go to first."

"I wanna built a snowman." Caboose added, to everyone's confusion.

* * *

Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Tucker, Ruby, Simmons, Grif and Aqua were walking along the main street of the town, searching for any sign of a hotel, or another place to stay. To their surprise, the buildings actually gave off a warm, welcoming atmosphere.

"I think we should ask someone." Simmons suggested, and looked around for a civilian. His gaze fell upon a man, walking along the street with a log in his arms, most likely to fuel a fireplace.

"Hey! Uhm, I'm sorry, but do you know if there's a hotel anywhere?" Tucker asked.

"Are you from XCOM?" The man asked back. He had a strong Nepali accent, but it was understandable.

"Yeah. Pretty cool, right?" Velvet replied.

"There is a hotel near the city hall." The man answered, and left again.

"He didn't even answer me." Velvet said sadly.

"I'm more surprised he didn't say anything about your ears." Simmons added.

"Well, they see Aliens daily. I don't think Bunny Ears are that abnormal." Ruby guessed and looked around. "Uhm, did anyone see where Aqua went?"

Everyone started looking around, searching for her. "Oh dammit." Grif said.

* * *

Finally, after searching for a rather long time, Nora's group found an inn to warm up a bit. They went in, and were instantly greeted by warmth. A Fire was burning in a fireplace, and tables stood around at the walls, a lot of them occupied. A counter was being tended to by a woman and a man, who probably owned the place.

They went over to the said counter, and the man noticed them. "You're new here, aren't you?"

"Yep." Coco replied. "Can we have something to eat?"

"Sure. Take a seat and look at the menu." He replied with a ruff voice. A scar went over his upper arm, and they guessed that he already saw fights, and possibly was an Ex-XCOM soldier.

They searched for a place that was big enough, and took seat. Nora took the menu, and skimmed through it. "They have quite the selection here... I'm gonna take some pancakes."

"Do they have dinosaur nuggets?" Caboose asked, and Nora started to search.

"Sorry. But they have normal ones. With Fries."

"I'll take that." Caboose replied. "And Ketchup."

"Lopez gets a Taco."

"Seriamente? (Ernsthaft?)"

With that, Nora gave the menu to Coco, who started to read. "I'm gonna take a normal salad. Megumin?"

The Mage took the menu and searched for something to eat. "I can't read that."

"Just look at the pictures." Ren said.

"Then... I'll take this." She showed it to Ren and pointed at a steak.

He took the menu and chose a salad too. The owners took their order, and started to cook the meals. "So, do you think we'll have to do this for long?" Coco asked.

"At least until we defeated Advent." Megumin answered.

"Yeah, then we can return home. Or something like that. I mean, Beacon looked pretty beat up." Nora said. "And even Amity crashed into Vale."

"You think our homes were the only ones?" Caboose asked.

"I don't know..." Megumin replied. They looked up as the owner brought the first plates with food. The only one who had a problem with his meal was Lopez.

"I wonder how Caboose..." Coco muttered, only to look in surprise as a little hatch opened at the bottom of Caboose's visor, allowing him to eat.

"Anyways, I doubt it." Ren said, going back to the original topic. "If Advent is able to visit other realms, why would they stop at five?"

"Good point. Maybe there are others out there..." Nora muttered.

Finally, the rest of the food arrived, and they all started to eat. And it was the best they had in the last couple of days.

* * *

"We're here." Bradford said, as he, the Commander, the Councilman, Sarge and Masterchief entered the main building of the town. While the Chief was supposed to come along, Sarge tagged along, and no amount of talking got him out of that mindset.

"Bradford. Commander." An older man, at least in his late fifties, said with open arms. "And, three new faces. Or one."

"Mister Byanju, these are Sarge, John-Sierra 117 and the Councilman." Bradford replied.

"Oh, the fabled mole in Advent. I'm happy to make your acquaintance. My name is Vikesh Byanju." He shook first the Councilman's hand, and then the hands of the Chief and Sarge. "I'm the de-facto leader of this Haven. Since our last leader died, at least."

"Well, the Councilman is here to take his place."

"What? He's taking my position?" Byanju asked in shock.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Sarge asked.

"Oh, no. On the contrary. I'm not suited to be a leader. I'd happily give that position to someone more qualified. And I can't imagine anyone else."

"Can you show me the office?" The Councilman asked.

"Of course. Come on, this way." He led them through wooden hallways, with pictures of previous leaders, as well as heroes from XCOM hanging on the walls.

Eventually, they reached it, behind big doors made out of wood. The inside was rather sporadic. A simple desk, three shelves and a holoprojector, together with a red carpet, featuring the insignia of XCOM. The wall behind the desk consisted of a big window, allowing view of the main plaza. The severed head of an Advent Soldier, as well as a Chryssalid head hung on the wall as trophies.

"Don't worry, the window is bulletproof." Byanju assured while knocking on it. "This would be your office then. I think the rest should be self-explanatory."

"Can you give us the current status of Mars?"

"Of course, wait a moment." He went behind the desk, and opened up a holographic projection, showing different datasets about the town. "We have enough supplies for at least a month, and with the efforts of hunting and our limited growth of crops, we should last a month and a half until we need the next set of supplies. As for weapons... It still is the same as last time, although some of the older guns have started to show signs of their age. Our Recon teams are currently analyzing drone footage, and are expected to be done with that at 5 pm. The population is relatively happy, considering everything. I hope the little transmission I got is true? That we've got new soldiers?"

"Precisely." The Chief answered.

"That's great. You must be two of them, right?"

"They are." The Commander said. "They'll stay in the City as long as we're docked here, and maybe longer, depending on the situation."

"No problem. I can put in rooms for them at the hotel. If they find a way to make money, maybe they can even get their own house. You just need to tell me how many there are exactly."

"We'll give you the necessary data as soon as possible." Bradford assured.

"All right then. I'm happy to transfer my position to you, Councilman."

"What will you do now?" Bradford asked.

"I'll stay here as a right hand. I believe he could need someone who's used to this place."

"It would be appreciated." The Councilman replied.

* * *

"Aqua!" Velvet yelled. They were still searching for the Goddess, who disappeared over thirty minutes ago. Of course, their first guess was to look through the alleyways on the side, thinking that she might have lost herself in the labyrinth. However, they didn't have any luck.

"Where did she go?" Grif asked.

"Maybe she's back at the Avenger?" Ruby guessed. "I mean, where else would she be?"

They left the alleyway, finding themselves on a broad street, which led directly to the plaza, with the town hall in the backround. There was a big building next to it, presumably the Hotel.

There was a big statue in the middle of the plaza, depicting Earth, with a holographic XCOM-insignia over it. A lot of people were walking around on the plaza, and there was a collection of children, gathered around something.

"What's going on there?" Simmons asked.

"Let's check it out. Maybe it's some sort of performance." Ruby said and ran off. The others quickly followed her and were relieved, as well as surprised at what they saw.

In the middle of the children was Aqua, performing tricks with water and two fans. It was like a street magician, and the children clearly enjoyed the show. However, Grif and Simmons weren't as happy.

"What the hell? Couldn't you at least tell us where you went?"

Aqua looked at them. "Sorry. Next time, okay?"

"Seriously?" Ruby asked.

"You should have told us. We were worried." Velvet added.

"Why? It's not like there's anything dangerous in this town. And even if there were, I can defend myself, you know? Can I please resume with the show now?"

"Fine, but contact us when you're done. We'll be waiting in the hotel." Yatsuhashi said, and everyone left fo the hotel.

The inside was, like probably every building, built out of wood. A big counter stood in the middle of the back wall, with a staircase to the right. To the left was a door marked as the cafeteria.

"So, how does this work? Do we have to reserve a room, or..."

"Sure that this is even a good idea? I mean, we have our rooms on the Avenger." Tucker wondered.

"It could be a good idea to call Bradford..." Ruby said and called him. "Hey, Brad- Oh, really? The Main Building? Okay, we're on our way."

"What's going on?"

"Well, Bradford wants us all to come to the main building. He said there's an announcement to be made."

"We can't have five minutes without something happening, can we?" Grif sighed.

* * *

It took a couple of minutes, but in the end, everyone arrived in the lobby of the main building. They all stood in a semicircle, muttering to each other about what's going on. Even a lot of the Avenger's staff was on the scene. The mumbling stopped, however, as Bradford entered the room, accompanied by the Commander, Councilman, and Byanju.

"Ladies, Gentleman." The Commander began. "For a long time, we've been opressed by Advent and their Alien Masters. They took control of Earth, and afterwards, multiple realities. For long, our chances were slim, nearly non-existent. But from this day onward, we will stop hiding in the shadows. With our new Soldiers, and their abilities, we'll first take back Earth, and then every other realm conquered by Advent. From today, the XCOM-Project is officially back in Action!" In the middle of the room, the hologram of the XCOM-Insignia appeared. "Vigilo Confido!"

With that, everyone but their fists in front of their chest, and repeated the Motto. "Vigilo Confido!"

The speech inspired them, and made them eager to bring down Advent. This feeling lasted for some time, until a voice cut through the room. "Such splendid hope."

They all turned around, and looked at the entrance. Someone stood in the doorway. His white hair looked like it never got much care, and his pale face looked around, taking in everyone's face. He wore a white shirt with some sort of red symbol on it. Above that, he wore a dark-green winterjacket. One of his hands was robotic. He started to walk into the room, parting the group as he did. "So this are the new arrivaly everyone's been talking about."

"Man, he's creepy." Ruby muttered.

"And who the fuck are you?" Tucker asked.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself? How foolish of me. My name is Nagito Komaeda." He greeted. His voice sounded weak, and creeped everyone out, except for Sarge and the Chief.

"Mister Komaeda. Did everything go according to plan?" Byanju asked.

"Of course, like always."

"Is he important?" Jaune asked Bradford, who positioned himself next to JNPR's leader.

"Somewhat. He's charged with watching the drones we send out from here, and sometimes, he's sent out to scout the area."

"And is he, like, mentally ill? He doesn't sound okay..." Velvet asked.

"I think he has some problems, especially his constant talks about things like Hope. But he seems to be on our side." Bradford answered.

"Anyways, I've reviewed the footage, and found something very interesting." Nagito continued. "It looks like Advent has made a move."

"A move?" Tygan asked.

"A ship landed at the spaceport in Patna and unloaded some sort of package. Which just so happens to move towards Kanpur now."

"Kanpur? That's in India." The Commander thought out loud. "Do we know what's in the package?"

"No, but no matter what it is, I believe it could be helpful to us, even if it's just because Advent looses it." Nagito explained.

"And you mean we can intercept it?"

"Easily. They'll be using a bridge that goes over a ravine. A little bomb there and the whole convoy will plummet down. It could even kill the Advent Soldiers in the process."

"Wouldn't the package also get destroyed?" Pyrrha asked.

"Don't worry. Advent crates can withstand a lot of force. A little fall shouldn't do anything to it." Zhang answered.

"How much time do we have?" Bradford asked.

"Most likely around two hours, unless something stops them along the way."

"Then let's get moving." The Commander said. "We won't have time to get the Avenger ready, so Firebrand will depart from here. As for the team."

"We need an explosion, right?" Megumin asked, eager to tag along.

"Yes, but one the size of a bomb. You're more, like, a small nuke." Nora said. "But that means I can come, right?"

"I guess it would be okay. We still have five seats free though. I think Miss Belladonna would be a good choice. Simmons, you'll go with them as well. We need someone who can control a GREMLIN."

"Aye, Sir!"

"Then I think Darkness should go as well."

"She can't hit a damn thing." Kazuma and Zhang interrupted.

"I know, but she can work as a tank, right? Miss Scarlatina will go as our support, and Kazuma as a babysitter for Darkness."

"Hey, I don't need a babysitter!" Darkness said.

"I know this sounds like you're a little child, but you still don't understand much about our world, or Advent. I think someone who actually is from Earth should be a great help."

"Fine."

"Well then, go straight to the Avenger and Firebrand. Julian? Go along and give them some equipment."

"Man, this will fail." Julian said, but nevertheless, tagged along.

Over the next few minutes, everyone scattered, either continuing to explore town, or talking with each other. Bradford, who was standing next to Nagito and Tucker as the team for the next mission left, stared after them.

"Go on, and crush the Despair that is Advent, in the name of Hope." Nagito muttered, and Tucker took a step away from him.

"Christ, you're creepy."

* * *

 **And here's Chapter 4, which could be considered the end of the Prologue.**

 **Anyways, this Chapter saw the arrival of a new, important character. If anyone doesn't know, Nagito is from a game series called 'Danganronpa', a mystery visual novel. It's a great game series, and I highly recommend it.**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Ellight1: I'm not quite sure what will happen with Vahlen. Maybe she'll appear, maybe not. We'll see.**

 **KrimsonShadow: Yes.**

 **Guest: Yes, some of them will make an appearence. Some less dangerous, some extremely dangerous.**

 **thelonewander117: I'd be both.**

 ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft  
****


	5. Raiding the Convoy

Chapter 5: Raiding the Convoy  


The team, consisting of Darkness, Kazuma, Velvet, Blake, Nora, and Simmons, was sitting inside Firebrand, ready to go on their mission. In front of them was a holographic screen, showing Bradford. Just a second ago, he was explaining to them how to prepare the bomb they had to place, a so-called X4 charge.

Before they started, they asked Julian to come with, but he declined. According to him, he is programmed to follow the Commander's orders, so even if he wanted to, he couldn't have tagged along. However, he also made it very clear that he didn't want to tag along anyway.

"Overall, the mission is simple. Place a X4-Charge on the bottom of the bridge, and put the timer on roughly thirty minutes. Wait until the convoy comes by, and collect the package once it arrives at the bottom of the ravine. But be careful, some of the Soldiers might survive the fall."

"So we still will have to fight..." Simmons said. "Of course." He was using a standard Assault Rifle, and Julian gave him a GREMLIN since Sarge mentioned that Simmons was good with machines.

"I'm looking forward to it." Darkness replied. She got a Grenade Launcher, mostly because they hoped she could hit something with an explosion. However, she also had her sword with her.

"If you're thinking about playing the wall, I just want to point out that plasma or whatever they shoot isn't the same as what we're used to." Kazuma pointed out. He too was using a normal Assault Rifle, along with his sword.

"Hey, we just have to fight if we're unlucky, right?" Velvet said. She was also using a normal Assault Rifle but also had her camera with her.

"Yeah. There's no need to worry." Nora added. She was using her Hammer, Magnhild.

"But we need to move fast," Blake finished. "Advent will most likely send Reinforcements once the bridge blows up." She was using an Assault Rifle too.

"It seems like you've understood the mission," Bradford said. "Get in, blow up that bridge, get the package, get out. Good luck." With that, the screen vanished, and Firebrand slowly went downwards into the Ravine.

The bay opened, and revealed a rather broad ravine, with a little stream of water running through the lush foliage that covered the ground. In the distance, the Ravine parted into two sections. And in front of them were the pillars that held up the wooden bridge.

"Okay, let's blow this thing up and go home," Kazuma said, and took the X4-Charge from the Dropship. It departed as soon as everyone was out, hiding among rocks and trees behind them.

"Leave it to me." With those words, Simmons snatched the bomb and put it onto one of the pillars. He started typing on the small keypad and ended by turning a handle. "Done."

"So... how long do we have to wait?" Nora asked.

"Thirty minutes," Simmons replied.

"Ugh. What are we gonna do in the meantime?" Kazuma asked, and pointed at Simmons' GREMLIN. "This thing doesn't have any games installed, right?"

"It's a military grade combat drone. Why would it have games installed?"

"It was just an idea," Kazuma said and sat down.

Thus, they started to wait. Ten minutes, twenty minutes... It got extremely boring, and they eventually just started to count plants or search for formations in the clouds.

That all ended as the sound of wheels on rails was heard. _"Alpha Team. Convoy is closing in. Get ready."_ Bradford said over the comm systems, and everyone took their weapon, before checking if everything was alright with it.

"Two," Simmons said.

"One."

"Go!"

Suddenly, a bright fireball engulfed the pillars of the bridge and blinded everyone for a second. Birds and other small animals fled in panic, as it started to rain wood, stone and the convoy.

As the ringing in the ears and the blinding light stopped, they were able to see the damage done. Debris of the bridge was scattered in the canyon, while the wrecks of the convoy laid in the back, burning and smoking.

"Okay, slow and steady." Velvet said, and they started to slowly approach their goal, using logs and stones as cover along the way. Eventually, they reached the burning wreckage and started to look through the debris.

There were a lot of dead Advent Soldiers and Sectoids, as well as a dead Viper. But one thing was missing.

"Where's the package?" Darkness asked.

"Maybe Nagito was wrong?" Nora suggested. "But why would he lie about it."

Suddenly, shots rang through the canyon, and all dove into cover, although Kazuma and Nora had to pull Darkness.

They looked up, and saw a Soldier at the entrance to one of the adjacent canyons, accompanied by two Sectoids. "Great, it was all a trick," Kazuma muttered.

"Not really," Blake said. "They were on the train, they just survived the crash. Look, their armor is scorched."

Kazuma took a quick look and nodded. "And now?"

"We fight!" Nora yelled excited and threw a Grenade over her cover. It hit a wall, and exploded, causing rocks to tumble down.

"Aim next time." Simmons scoffed and shot at one of the Sectoids with his Rifle. It hit the creatures leg, and it went down on one limp.

Kazuma tried to take a shot but instantly went back into cover as Plasma soared over his head. "Yeah, we've got a problem."

"I can wall-"

"Forget it." Blake interrupted. "I don't think your armor will hold of any of their shots. At least not for very long." To demonstrate her point, Blake created a shadow clone of herself, which stood up. It got riddled with holes instantly and disappeared. "See?"

Darkness gulped.

"Seriously, that's what it needs?" Kazuma asked in disbelief. "Anyways, we still need an idea."

"I think the GREMLIN has Combat Abilities," Simmons said. "Let me try something."

He typed something into the drone, and it flew towards the enemies, where it unloaded an electric shock, before flying back.

"Okay, my turn," Nora said with a grin and jumped up, only to let her hammer down on one of the Sectoids. Its head was crushed instantly, and Nora celebrated her victory. But only for short, as the Soldier hit her into the side. She held her hand over the spot and gritted her teeth. Even though she still had her Aura, the hit hurt.

"Nora, get into cover!" Blake yelled and shot her Assault Rifle. It hit the Soldier in the chest, and he fell down, leaving only the other Sectoid, who opened fire on Nora. The girl quickly dove behind the next stone, as Kazuma took aim and shot. The Sectoid finally fell, opening the path.

"Man. I didn't think any of them would actually survive this." Velvet said.

"Still, where's the package?" Blake wondered.

"I think I might just know that." Darkness said, and pointed at footprints on the ground. They led into the left ravine, and judging by the space between them, at least two Units were carrying something big.

They slowly followed the footprints, and looked around a stone, as the canyon got broader. There was an Advent Officer, together with two Soldiers, one of which was a Stun Lancer, and an MEC, guarding a big object. Makeshift covers had been put down around them.

"I guess this is it." Velvet said.

"So, we need a plan," Blake said. "Charging in guns blazing would be suicide."

"What equipment do we have?" Kazuma asked.

"I got one grenade left," Nora said. "And I think Darkness hasn't fired one yet, right?"

"I haven't." Darkness replied. "Wait, do I need to reload this thing?"

"Ugh, I have a Medikit," Simmons said. "Nothing helpful in a direct fight."

"I still got my camera." Velvet threw in. "I could make some pictures, but that'd just tell them where we are."

"Why would you take photos anyway?" Kazuma asked.

"My camera can create hard light copies of the weapons I took pictures of. But it only holds for a short time."

"Huh. Blake?"

"I got a proximity mine." She said. "Not too useful in this situation, since the explosion could cause a rockslide and bury us."

"So, I guess the MEC is our priority?" Simmons asked. "I think those things have heavy armor though. We'd need to shred it."

"Like with a Grenade?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, but don't just launch it. We need to think of a plan first." Kazuma said, and pushed Nora's arm back down.

"Attack the MEC first," Simmons said. "When it's lost its armor, I'll send my GREMLIN over to unload a shock. The manual said that it does more damage to robots."

"What about the Stun Lancer?" Velvet asked. "We can't let him come near us."

"Shoot it down. Easy as that." Kazuma replied. "He will run at us, so it shouldn't be hard to hit him."

"That'd leave the Officer and Soldier. I don't think they'll be a big problem." Nora said and readied her Grenade. "Can I?"

"Go ahead," Simmons said and got ready to send his GREMLIN over. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

At that, Nora threw her last Grenade. It hit its mark and engulfed the MEC in a bright fireball. The Advent Forces turned toward them, and dove into cover, as the GREMLIN flew over, and unleashed an electric shock at the MEC. It overloaded and fell down.

"MEC down!" Simmons yelled.

"Stun Lancer's coming!" Blake added. She shot at the Lancer with her Gambol Shroud, but either the Lancer endured the hits, or blocked the bullet with his sword.

Bullets soared through the air, courtesy of Kazuma, and hit the Alien in the abdomen. It slowed down and was killed by another salvo from Velvet.

The Officer pointed at Velvet, who was reloading her weapon, and a red, holographic mark appeared around her. Advent shot and the hard light hit their mark, forcing Velvet to fall down. "Velvet!"

She sat back up, holding her arm. There was a scorch mark, revealing that her Aura had been depleted. "These guns really hit hard."

Simmons sat down next to her with a Medkit, and started treating the wound, as Darkness tried a shot, burrowing Velvets weapon. The bullets flew high into the air.

"Seriously?" Everyone asked, and even the Advent soldiers seemed confused.

"I never used something like this, okay?" When she said that, a dead bird fell out of the sky, riddled with holes, and she gave the gun back to Velvet, who was able to move her arm again.

"I mean, she t _echnically_ hit something," Nora said. Shots soared over their heads, and they quickly duck down even more.

Blake took a quick look and saw that the Advent Troops were in full cover. The only thing to get them out of the right now was a Grenade. "Darkness? Can you try to shoot a Grenade?"

"Of course." Darkness held her Grenade Launcher up and shot the Grenade. It flew up and eventually came down on a tree inside the ravine. "Uhm..."

"Goddammit." Simmons sighed.

"Wait, look..." Nora said and pointed at the tree. The explosion caused it to fall over, and scare the Advent Soldiers, who jumped out of their cover.

Velvet immediately shot the Soldier, and Blake finished the Officer. "Nice. Maybe Grenades don't have to hit." Nora said happily.

"Come on, let's get this thing back to the ship," Kazuma said and stood up. They walked towards the box and lifted it up. Thankfully, Darkness was able to carry it by herself, meaning the others could provide fire if more Aliens were to show up.

They left the Ravine and started to make their way to Firebrand, as they passed the wreckage. "I'd say we did a pretty good job," Nora said.

Suddenly, something wrapped around Darkness, and she was gone one second later, leaving behind a dust cloud in her shape. It collapsed, and the package fell to the ground, as everyone looked where Darkness was heading. Two Vipers had gotten out of a small cave, and one had used its tongue to snatch Darkness and start to strangle her.

"Darkness!"

"It's okay!" She yelled back. Luckily, her heavy armor meant that the Snake had a hard time to actually cut off her breath.

They all dove into cover as the second Snake opened fire with her Rifle, shooting green plasma into the cliffs. Kazuma answered the shots and hit the snake into the side.

Blake left behind a shadow clone and started to sneak around, slowly approaching the Snake that had Darkness. As she came close enough, Blake jumped and stabbed her blade into the Viper, severing it in two halves. Darkness fell to the ground. "Really? Already?"

"I know you're a masochist, but this is serious."

"Actually, I meant that the second one is now looking at us. You could've killed that one first." The Paladin replied.

Blake turned to the other Snake, which was already aiming at her. But it didn't get to shoot, as it got punctured by bullets from behind. Velvet, Kazuma, and Simmons reloaded their weapons. "Can you not run straight into the enemy?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah. I'm with Darkness on this." Kazuma added. "We could've taken care of the other Viper first."

Blake sighed and looked at the ground. "Sorry."

"Let's just go back to Firebrand, before more Advent troops start showing up." Velvet said, and they all went back to the ship.

"Bradford? We've got the package." Velvet said over the comm channel.

 _"Great. Come back to Mars, and we'll find out what we've got here."_ With that, Firebrand started up its engines, before flying back into the northern direction, leaving the canyon in tatters.

Inside, everyone was relieved that the mission went relatively well, and the biggest injuries were two burn wounds, which were already being treated. And from time to time, their eyes darted to the package. The small box, made out of Advent alloy, was standing in the middle of the room. Why was Advent that adamant about protecting it?

* * *

Firebrand slowly descended downwards toward the landing pad in the Mars Haven. The team was greeted by Bradford, The Commander, Ren, and Sarge.

"Did it go smoothly?" Ren asked.

"For the most part," Simmons replied.

"But more Advent Soldiers survived than we expected," Kazuma added.

"And Blake fucked up at one point." Nora finished.

"It didn't ruin the mission, okay?" Blake said. "Now, can we open that damn box?"

With that, Darkness brought the package to the main building, where it was put down in the main hall. Tygan and Shen started to open it, without triggering any form of explosive.

Eventually, it opened with a hiss.

"Let's see what we got here..." Nagito muttered.

Bradford looked into the chest and held up some form of stone tablet. "What is this thing?" He wiped off the dust, but it still looked like a regular stone.

"So... Advent put up that much security for a stupid rock?" Velvet asked.

"I- It looks like it," Nagito replied. "But there has to be something on it. Advent wouldn't waste resources like that."

"I'll take it to the Avenger," Tygan said, and took the stone from Bradford, before leaving with Shen.

"This mission was a waste," Kazuma said annoyed. "We didn't get anything."

"At least it gave us the opportunity to take a look at your abilities in real combat," Bradford replied. "Thus, I'm happy to announce your official classes. Simmons, you'll be a Specialist, focusing on healing and hacking."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Blake Belladonna, you will be a Ranger, and use your sword to slice up enemies."

"Velvet Scarlatina, you too will be a Specialist. Thus, you can use your abilities without being obstructed by a heavy weapon."

"Nora Valkyrie, your class will be Grenadier. I think that one is pretty self-explanatory."

"Satou Kazuma, your friends explained your abilities to us, and we've decided to make you a Ranger so that you can use them to your full advantage."

"Lastly, Darkness. You will be a Grenadier too. Although you never hit a shot, we think that Grenades still have the best chance to hit something."

Darkness nodded. "Thank you."

"Now, try to get some sleep. We'll start the Avenger soon." With that, the Operatives left, leaving only Bradford, the Commander and Nagito in the building.

"A stone tablet, huh?" Nagito muttered, deep in thought.

* * *

Deep below the depths of the Pacific ocean, inside a giant fortress built by the legendary Elders, a psionic portal opened. Slowly, a female figure walked out, looking around. She was alone, nothing surprising. The two she was supposed to meet always were a bit late, and even she was here earlier than expected.

However, it only took mere seconds for a second portal to open. A muscular person came out, wearing a dark red cloak. The Aura around him, as well as his gear, immediately identified him as a master of Psionic powers.

And only a fragment of a second later, the third portal opened, revealing a slender male. He was carrying his big Sniper Rifle, like always. His eyes darted around the room, inspecting his two companions.

"So we've all been called here." The female began.

"Yes, the great one called us..." The psionic master added.

"It really is not a good time... I was just hunting down some troublesome insurgents..." The slender one added.

"It is always a good time for the Elders to call us, Dhar-Mai Mordenna!" The muscular one replied angrily.

"Kon-Mon Khomain, you're as devoted as always..." She said.

"We were created to serve the Elders!" He replied, purple psionic energy building up in his hands.

"Someone's getting angry... Let's see where this goes." Mordenna said, putting his big Sniper Rifle back on his back.

"I'm surprised you aren't trying anything." She said, staring at him, and putting her hand on the sword she carried with her.

"You can't always be the one to stir up some trouble. Our psionics fetishist here is more than enough for this."

"You little... Talking about the holy gift like that!" Kon-Mon said angry, before turning back to her. "And you, Gur-Rai Madron, you aren't any better than him. You desecrate their home with your presence as well."

"SILENCE!" A loud voice echoed across the room, bringing all of them to their knees in an instant. They looked towards the source and saw a being clad in golden armor entering the room. Its hair stood up, and pure psionic power came off its body. It was roughly the size of a human and had the same body structure. And then there was the purple shadow behind it. The shadow of the Elder that lived inside that body.

"We're sorry..." The Warlock said in sorrow.

"You really are like children. Biggering amongst each other like this. Is it because we changed our previous plan, and took Earth for ourselves?" She asked, slowly making her way towards the middle of the room. "And even though we gave you entire realms as thanks?"

"No. We're just foolish." The Assassin replied.

"Why did you call us here?" The Hunter added.

"Something... Something has changed. XCOM has become more and more resilient in the last few days." She projected visions into the air, using her vast psionic powers. One of them showed a burning Advent facility in the desert, one multiple wrecks of destroyed dropships in a barren part of the jungle, while the last one showed remains of an Advent Convoy that pummeled down a ravine.

"Even though we gave them the courtesy to spare them! Maggots!" The Warlock yelled out in anger.

"You really have become more devoted to the Elders haven't you?" Mordenna asked.

"Mordenna?" The Elder asked, looking at the Chosen in question. "You shouldn't be talking. It looks like you did a rather bad job, even though we gave you so simple directions."

"What do you mean? I fulfilled all of them perfectly."

"We have picked up certain... traces. In fact, it looks like all of you didn't do as well of a job as you should. Multiple individuals from the worlds we gave you seemed to have escaped, and joined XCOM." She said, and her anger enraged her psionic Aura. "They are never allowed to meet and unite."

"We're... so sorry." The Assassin replied. "But I don't know how this is even possible. None of them have any means of Slipspace travel..."

"We don't know either. But as it stands, you are to put your worlds under higher security. And be ready, if XCOM gets more aggressive, we might need to take them out, once and for all."

"Yes, master," Kon-Mon said. "We will do that."

"Then be dismissed!" The being yelled out, teleporting everyone back to their homes in an instant, before shifting attention to the visions. "XCOM... It looks like you are bolder than I thought. This might just get interesting again."

* * *

 **And here's Chapter five, the first Chapter after the official release of WotC.**

 **Little fact: The names of the three Chosen are the ones they had in my first playthrough.**

 **Fal-Mon Khomain: Chosen Assassin**

 **Dhar-Mai Mordenna: Chosen Hunter**

 **Kon-Mon Khomain: Chosen Warlock**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Edrap: That's normal**

 **Ellight1: Thanks**

 **SignalHunter: Well, at this point, most of the characters have their classes, and Psi Ops and SPARKs are amongst them. (Lopez is going to be a SPARK for example).  
As for why Nagito, I just thought that he'd be the most interesting conversation wise. However, I can already say that other Characters from DR are going to appear later on.  
**

 **zelda31: After Future Arc. He already has the mechanical hand.**

 ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft******


	6. On the way to Phobos

Chapter 6: On the way to Phobos  


The Avenger threw up massive amounts of snow as it started from the landing pad in Mars. Every little thing they had to take with them was loaded up, and all were on board, ready to leave.

The next goal was Phobos, the smallest of the three Havens, located somewhere in the Pacific ocean. There, the Avenger was supposed to stock up on food supplies, and after the time they spent in the freezing mountains, everyone on board was more than happy to visit a tropical island.

After the ship was at a stable height, out of reach from Advent's anti-air weapons and radars, everyone was able to walk around freely again. A possibility some used to train. Those were Yang Xiao-Long, Weiss Schnee, Yatsuhashi Daichi, Pyrrha Nikos, Tucker, and Sarge.

They met up in the training room, where multiple cardboard and holographic enemies waited to be shot at. Or punched, in Yang's case. Two cardboard sectoids popped up in a distance of four meters and were destroyed by Weiss, using her Semblance. "Easy."

"So... How exactly does this work?" Tucker asked.

"What? Semblance?" Weiss replied. "It's basically a manifestation of one's soul. Everyone has a unique Semblance."

"Can we use it too?" Tucker replied.

"What? Are you a baby? Real soldiers don't need magic." Sarge said, cocking his Shotgun. "We only need our guns, wits and occasionally a nuke."

"I can try to unlock your Aura," Pyrrha said, ignoring Sarge for now. "Hold st-"

They were interrupted, as the whole ship shook heavily. "What the hell is going on?" Yang yelled and quickly grabbed a railing to keep herself on her feet.

"Are we getting attacked?" Tucker asked.

"Bradford? What's going on?" Weiss asked over a communication terminal on the wall.

"Our mage, that's what," Bradford replied. Judging by his voice, he was extremely annoyed. "Apparently she had to use her magic on top of the ship."

"Do you need help?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"No, don't worry. Miss Scarlatina and Miss Valkyrie are already getting her back inside."

"Okay. We'll just continue training then." Pyrrha said, and ended the conversation.

Everyone looked around speechless. "So... You wanna shoot some holographic Vipers?" Yang asked.

"Sure," Sarge replied and started to train.

* * *

Bradford rubbed the side of his head, as Lily Shen was working on the long-range communication relay in the bridge. It got damaged during Megumin's little magic show, as a mug full of coffee fell over and all of it got into the electronics.

Luckily, the damage was only minor, and Lily was close to repairing the machine. He had a headache since yesterday, as he didn't get much sleep prior to their departure from Mars. And the fact that he was awaiting a transmission wasn't helping.

"And... I'm done." Shen said and wiped the oil off her hands with a towel. "I hope it wasn't too late."

"No, it's okay," Bradford replied, and activated the relay. Instantly, the face of a middle-aged, almost balded man appeared on the screen. "Oh, looks like you made it."

"I never miss an appointment, Bradford." The man replied.

"And what is it you wanted to discuss?" Bradford asked. "We're already on our way to Phobos. You could've waited until we arrived there."

"No, this is too important to wait."

Suddenly, the door to the Bridge opened, and the Chief stepped in, approaching Bradford. "Sir, Megumin has been successfully retrieved."

"That's good. Is she okay?"

The Chief nodded. "Some minor bruises from an antenna that broke, but Aqua is already taking care of it."

"Great. Chief? Can I introduce you to someone?" Bradford asked, and gestured to the screen. "This is Geist, the leader of the Templars."

"Good that this conversation shifts back to me," Geist replied. "This is one of those new soldiers you mentioned?"

"Yes. This is John Sierra-117." The Masterchief replied.

"The Templars are part of the resistance." Bradford started to explain. "They reside in Phobos, and are very powerful psionic masters."

"Psionics?" The Chief replied in confusion.

"The Power that inhabits all known species. Some have enough potential to wield it as a weapon." Geist explained. "From what we know, the two most capable species in the universe are the Elders, and us, Humans. We know that the Elders introduced our Species to the concept of Psionics, but we believe that we are the rightful holders of this power."

"That's at least how the Templars see it. From my point of view, it's an exceptionally lethal weapon to use against Advent." Bradford finished.

"Do we have a facility to train Psionic soldiers?" The Chief asked, intrigued by the idea.

"We used to. But after the first attack on the Avenger, we had problems with keeping it up, and had to shut it down eventually."

"Which was foolish," Geist said. "I cannot grasp why you would leave this grant facility to deteriorate."

"Because it is more convenient and cheaper to let our soldiers shoot Aliens with Bullets instead of magical brainwaves." Bradford snapped back at Geist. "Now, why did you call us?"

"Have you ever heard of... Sydney?"

"Seriously? Of course, I've heard of it. Hell, I spent my vacation there before the first invasion."

"That's great. Before you come here, I would like to ask you a favor."

"Which would be?"

"You might remember that a storm ravaged the pacific ocean a couple of weeks ago. It devastated our cultural library. Music, Plays... All gone. As you may know, this was a hard blow to the Templars, as we strive to keep the cultures across the world alive to be brought back once the Elders are defeated."

"And what does any of this have to do with Sydney?"

Next to Geist, the picture of a a peculiar building appeared. "The Sydney Opera House. A landmark in the city. It got damaged exponentially during the Invasion, but we think that it might still hold records of music and great plays that were once performed there."

"Let me guess. You want us to recover them?"

"Sadly, we don't have the means to do that ourselves. But, I would reward you greatly for this task. I would like to send one of my men on the Avenger, to test and train your new troops for any psionic potential."

"Bradford, this is a great opportunity." Shen threw in. "We don't have the means to keep our Psionic Lab running, and with the help of the Templars, we might be able to repair or replace it."

Bradford sighed. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

"Your efforts will be rewarded. Geist out." Thus, the leader of the Templars cut the connection.

"They seemed... hostile." The Chief muttered.

"Ever since the Avatar project finished, the Templars have been more cautious, and didn't allow any of their men to enter the Avenger. That led to a big feud between them, the Skirmishers and the Reapers, and we had to make sure they wouldn't meet each other until it was over."

"Is it over?"

"Eh."

"When is the mission going to start?"

"I will talk with the Commanded about our schedule. We'll give you a notice as soon as we know."

"Affirmative."

* * *

"Did you find anything?" Velvet asked as she entered the Shadow Chamber together with Simmons, Grif, and Aqua. Tygan was still working on deciphering the tablet they retrieved, and the Faunus wanted to know if there were any news on it.

"I have found some small symbols in it, only atoms thick." He started to explain, as a machine projected a picture of the tablet into the air. "However, I cannot identify them as any language or writing I've seen on Earth. Of course, my main area of research is technology, so my knowledge of languages is limited."

Aqua stepped up to the projection. "Can you zoom in on the markings?"

"Uhm, sure." He quickly swiped over his pad, and it zoomed in on the markings, which were marked with green lines.

"Hmmm..." Aqua muttered. "I think I might have seen that before, but I can't read it. Like, at all."

"Which means we're still at square one. Fan-fucking-tastic." Simmons replied.

"I don't know. Doesn't that mean she just has to remember where she saw it?" Grif asked.

"That could work," Tygan said. "Miss Aqua, do you remember where you first saw those marks?"

"No. Could have been anywhere, really. Still, it's weird that I don't know it."

"Why?" Velvet asked.

"As the Goddess that guides people to the afterlife, I can speak almost every language that's known on Earth. Except for whatever symbols people use in online messages."

"You're still on this?" Grif asked. "People are gonna think you lost your marbles when you continue to call yourself a goddess."

Aqua stomped on the ground in anger. "I am a Goddess! Why don't you believe me!"

"Do you have any evidence?" Simmons asked.

"Well..."

"Can we get back to the topic?" Tygan asked, and every head looked at him. "There's a possibility that I might decipher those writings given enough time and resources. But I can't say for certain right now. But if what you said is true, if you truly are well-versed in languages, I would like to have your assistance on this, Miss Aqua."

"No problem. I'm pretty sure I can spare some of my time."

"You're literally spending all your free time drinking or playing games with Yang, Ruby, and Jaune. You're lazier than Grif." Simmons deadpanned.

"Really?" Grif replied. "Shit. Gotta step up my game."

"Please don't. You're still disgustingly lazy."

"You aren't my dad, Simmons. And I want to enjoy the time I don't have to be around Sarge. Or Caboose." With those words, Grif left the room.

"How did you get put on a team again?" Velvet asked.

"I never said we were a good team," Simmons replied. "Speaking of which, I would look out." He said, looking at Aqua.

"Me? Why?"

"Sarge has his eyes on you."

"Wha-"

"He thinks you're part of Blue Team..."

At that, everyone in the room was speechless, until Aqua finally spoke up. "That explains why it always feels like he got his Shotgun pointed at me..."

* * *

Ruby was currently in the hangar bay of the Avenger, together with Sarge, Julian, Lopez, and Zhang. They had been put on weapon cleaning duty and were less than happy with it.

"A Sergeant, damned to clean weapons. Normally, this is Grif's Job... Even pulled me out of training." Sarge muttered angrily.

"Someone's gotta do it. Stop complaining and clean them." Zhang replied, putting aside a now clean Assault Rifle.

"I kinda like it," Ruby said with a smile. "It's for a good cause, and I can get a good look at the weapons."

"I can't believe you're all so happy with cleaning these things," Julian said.

"Solo estoy acostumbrado. (I'm just used to it.)"

"How did I fall from controlling an entire facility to slave labor."

"'Cause you underestimated us," Zhang replied with a grin. "Even your Sectoid couldn't stop us."

"Wait, you already fought a Sectoid?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Wasn't easy, especially since we fought an entire army of primitive MECs before that. And although three members of our Squad were killed, we persevered."

"You're talking about losing your people like it's nothing..." Ruby said.

"This is war, girl," Sarge answered. "People die. Just hope to die in honor. And, if possible, while blowing up an entire enemy armada."

"He's right. Even when it was going relatively well for us, operatives dying was normal. Sure, it was sad, but it was something that happened. In case you wanna mourn them, there's a Memorial in the Avenger."

"I think I'm gonna visit that one time..." Ruby said.

"Espero que Sarge estè allì un dìa. (Hopefully, Sarge will be on there one day."

"Amen." Julian replied, and put a Shotgun back into a weapon rack.

* * *

"Damn, I look good." Coco said as she looked at the photo that was just taken of her, posing with her weapon.

One of the things Coco was quickly asked to help with was the marketing, or rather propaganda, of XCOM. With them engaging Advent again, Propaganda was needed to inform the masses, or what was left of them, and inspire them to join. And one of the oldest ways to do that was with good-looking pictures, especially if it was of people from other realms who came to help.

Since she had the appearance of a model and one of the strongest looking weapons, Coco was chosen to star as the spearhead of the new propaganda campaign. However, she wasn't the only one here. Jaune and Donut were here too, for better or worse.

"Yes, this picture is great. We can definitely use it." The cameraman said. "If you want, we can try out different filters or effects."

"Sounds great. What'cha got?"

"We can make it look like an old poster." He answered, and changed the filter into something one would find in the 80's.

"Oh, I like that. Has a retro feel to it." Donut said.

"I mean, it doesn't really capture me as well as the other one. Can you add, like, a lens flare? Or different background?"

"Of course. Nothing easier than that. Want Earth in the background?"

"Wait, can we add glitter? I bet the children would love that!" Donut asked.

"We're making war propaganda, not pictures for the whole family."

"I mean, you just made it look like an old sci-fi movie..." Coco added.

"Good point. By the way, Donut, you wanna be photographed in or out of your armor?"

"In the armor, please," Jaune said in distress. "Grif mentioned earlier that Donut doesn't wear anything under it."

"What?" Coco asked in confusion.

"Well, sometimes you just gotta take off your clothes to stay healthy. And it's not like I'm wearing nothing. I have a black-"

"I don't wanna know." Coco interrupted. "Now, can you just get in front of the camera. We gotta make some propaganda here."

"Okie-dokie. Just let think about a fitting pose."

And thus, a painfully long photo shooting session started. One that would forever scare Coco and Jaune, and haunt them in their deepest nightmares.

* * *

Minutes after he had enough of training, Tucker was casually strolling through the hallways of the Avenger, trying to get a hang of the layout. Sure, they had maps in every room, but they all were electronic, or unable to be seen if the lights went out. Thus, if something would shut off their power, they'd have a big problem with moving around.

With him was the other part of the Blue Team, much to his dismay.

As both came around a corner, towards a small alcove with a resting area, including benches and a Vending Machine, they saw Darkness, staring at the machine intensely. "Everything okay?" Tucker asked.

"Can I ask you something?" She replied.

"Sure."

"How do I get the drinks out of here?" Darkness asked.

"Oh, right. You don't have much technology in your world." Tucker replied, and walked up to the vending machine. "First, you choose what you want to drink."

"I've heard good things about something called 'Cola'."

"Then you just put in the price, and select the number," Tucker said. "Wait, do you have any coins?"

"Yeah. Here." She gave him a couple of coins, and Tucker put them into the machine, before choosing the cola. A second later the can came out, but stopped, as it leaned against the glass.

"Oh god."

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Darkness asked.

"Happens sometimes. It's fucking annoying."

"Yeah, I hate when that happens," Caboose added.

"What now?"

"Now you gotta ask the magical fairy to get it out," Caboose muttered.

"There's a fairy inside that machine?" Darkness replied in surprise.

"No, there's not. It's something me and Church told him back in the day after he broke the fifth Vending Machine."

"Oh. Who is Church?"

"He's... He's an old friend." Tucker muttered as he put more coins into the machine, and selected a drink above the cola.

"Sounds like he's..."

"Yeah. For the third time. Or something like that. Becomes hard to keep track."

"Did he get resurrected?"

"Kinda. But it's more complicated than that."

"I can explain." Caboose replied. "Church was the bestest friend I ever had. We were playing hide and not seek, or who can be quiet the longest... I always won. And then it turned out he was actually an AI created by Project Freelancer-"

"What's an AI?" Darkness asked.

"Caboose, you don't need to explain. Darkness has no idea what half the stuff you're talking about is." The drink he chose fell down... and got stuck above the cola. "Oh, come on."

"I'm sorry he's dead." Darkness replied.

"Oh, you don't have to. He's gonna come back like he always did!" Caboose replied happily.

"Huh, is he?" As she asked that, Darkness looked to Tucker, who kept quiet.

"Don't tell him..." Tucker muttered quietly.

"Oh..."

Tucker chose another drink, and it fell down, taking the other two with it. He pulled it out of the slot and gave it to Darkness, keeping the other two for him and Caboose. "Listen, Caboose is like a child. Somethings are better to be kept a secret."

"O- Okay. I won't tell."

"Thanks."

With that, Tucker and Caboose left, while Darkness sat down and drank her Cola, unaware of what happens when cola gets shaken.

Suddenly, a Message came through the speakers everywhere in the Avenger. "Julian, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Coco Adel, Dexter Grif and Franklin Delano Donut, please come to the bridge. We have a mission for you."

* * *

A couple of minutes since the announcement passed, and the called-out people were standing in the bridge, ready for orders. Bradford put himself in front of them and took a good look at everyone. "Now, you might wonder why I called you here."

"You said for a mission," Coco replied. "Thanks for getting me out of that photoshoot, by the way."

"So bad?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, thanks to Donut."

"Poor girl." Grif sighed. "Can I ask something, though?"

"Sure."

"Do I have to participate?"

"Yes," Bradford replied sternly. "One of our contacts in Phobos has called us, and asked us to bring some... 'artifacts' from the Opera House in Sydney, Australia."

"What? Do we have to walk in and buy something?" Jaune asked.

"It won't be that easy. After Advent took Earth decades ago, most of our big cities have fallen to ruin as they were abandoned. Sydney is one of those. You'll be traversing the ruins, and make your way to the Opera House. You'll get more precise orders once you're there."

"Shame it isn't open anymore. I would've loved to give a performance." Donut said with a sigh, which caused Coco and Jaune to shiver.

"However, the ruins are also home to a threat entirely different then Advent. The Lost. Mutated humans, that are out for nothing other than human meat." Bradford explained.

"So... Zombies?" Ren asked.

"Not exactly. They aren't undead, just mutated beyond recognition. Luckily, most of them are slow and fragile. Just aim well and it shouldn't pose much of a problem. But refrain from using explosives. The Lost are drawn to them, most likely due to the vibration they cause in the air."

"No booms. Understood." Jaune replied.

Suddenly, the door opened, and an angry mage ran in. "What is this?"

"A mission briefing," Bradford explained.

"Without me?" Megumin replied. "I finally wanna go onto an adventure too!"

"Hey... Bradford?" Grif asked. "What about we switch me out for Megumin?"

"No. The Commander..."

"But I suddenly feel sick. Like... real sick." Grif muttered and coughed into his fist.

"Ugh, fine." Bradford scoffed, knowing that he'd rather not put up with this and his headache at the same time, and looked back at Megumin. "Okay, you can come along. Can you move?"

"I'm standing here, aren't I? We only have to wait for Kazuma and Aqua."

"Why?"

Meanwhile, Grif was already going towards the exit, as the door swung open again, hitting him square in the face. Kazuma and Aqua came in. "We're here. Can you go?"

Megumin nodded. "Yeah. Do it."

As she said that, Kazuma grabbed both her neck and Aquas. Blue energy started to flow from Aqua, over Kazuma and into Megumin, who seemed to enjoy it.

"What the hell are they doing?" Julian asked.

"Giving Mana from Aqua to Megumin," Kazuma explained, and let go. "There. Should be enough."

"Okay, let's go kill some Aliens!" Megumin said and bumped her fist into the air.

"Fine. Get to the hangar bay. I've already informed Firebrand of the mission and asked Zhang to prepare some fitting equipment for you. Good luck."

With that, the six of them went into the hangar, ready to travel to Sydney and retrieve the 'Artifacts'.

* * *

 **And Chapter 6 is here.**

 **I'm planning on putting Chapters like this in between missions, to get some interactions between the characters outside of battle situations.  
**

 **And next Chapter, the Lost are gonna make their debut. This is going to be chaos.  
**

 **Now to reviews:**

 **Ellight1: Well, the factions are here. It was the plan since the DLC was announced to make characters into faction heroes, but I won't say who becomes what for now.**

 **AmethystPone: In the WoR, it said 'Remnant's Atmosphere'. Of course, that could just mean Atmosphere, but I think it only working on Remnant makes more sense.  
About how they defeated them: That will be revealed at a later point. But I can say it has a lot to do with Coup d'Etats, betrayal and infighting.  
And the Melee combat is going to play a bigger part in the future, especially against the Lost and other enemies that are going to appear.**

 **Da Sam-Moo-Rhai: I think they would. Ruby even said 'Son of a bitch' in Chibi, although the last word was cut off.**

 **nphillips0115: I'm definitely going to look into that. Sounds interesting.  
**

 **zelda31: Thanks. For some reason, I've always heard it as Corporation.**

 ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft********


	7. Lost in Sydney

Chapter 7: Lost in Sydney

The Strike Team for operation 'Lost and Found' was sitting in the back of Firebrand, ready for their first mission. All of them had picked a weapon that would not only be useful in the empty and narrow ruins of the big city but that they also knew how to operate.

Julian was carrying his usual armament, consisting of a BIT drone and a heavy machine gun specifically made to fit his chassis.

Jaune decided to take an Assault Rifle, while also carrying Crocea Mors into battle. He picked a Medikit as special equipment, in case someone got injured.

Ren was using Stormflower and took a special vest that inflicted burn damage upon being hit. He planned to be swift and take off individual Lost from the buildings and shadows.

Coco was, of course, using her handbag machine-gun, and received a couple of special tracer rounds, that would help the others to hit the hordes.

Donut had chosen an Assault Rifle and a piece of experimental equipment which Shen built: A grappling hook. Although the others said that some special ammo would be more useful, Donut stayed with it, insisting that it could help out too.

And lastly, Megumin. It was a bit hard to get her to carry something besides her staff, and she ended up with a weapon called K-7 Bullpup, which they found behind an old crate in the armory.

 _"Let's go over the mission one last time."_ Bradford, who once again appeared on a holographic live feed, said. _"You're to retrieve cultural records from the famous Sydney Opera House. Normally, we would set you down directly above the building. But that's not possible in this case."_

"Why not?" Coco asked.

 _"While Sydney wasn't fought over as fiercely as some other big cities, it was still abandoned. After abandoning it, multiple refugees came in to search for a safe place to live. From what we know, a group had hidden in the Opera House and repurposed an old Anti Air Turret. It can only fire in a small area, and we aren't exactly sure if it would target Firebrand, but we cannot take that risk."_

"You aren't going to drop us off on the other side of town, are you?" Jaune asked.

 _"Don't worry. We will drop you off at the Lang Park. This is the best position we could find, although you will have to walk a bit. And even though it is not necessary to complete this mission, try to destroy and salvage the turret if you can, and maybe even locate the people that took refuge there. The chance is slim, but they might still be alive. Good luck."_

They felt how Firebrand became slower, and eventually stopped above a small park that was probably green once. Dirty, dust-filled air and a bad stench filled the hangar, and they got a good view of the ruins. Buildings stood abandoned, partially broken down and grown over with plant life. The air was covered by dirty clouds, and some columns of smoke were visible in the distance, most likely small fires that broke out after decades of abandonment.

The troop jumped out and landed on hard dirt. The grass and foliage in the park were grey and brown, and it was hard to believe that any of the plants were actually still alive. Around them were empty streets, full of broken cars and trash.

"There is someone!" Megumin said out loud and ran towards a human shape at the side of a street. The dirty air made it somewhat hard to look far, and Megumin froze as she came closer. The others followed her and froze too.

What they were looking at was neither Lost nor Advent. It was a human, mummified in place as if a layer of ash was stuck to the person's body. Their hands were in front of their face as if they tried to shield themselves from something.

"Is... Is he alive?"

Ren walked up to the body and touched it on the shoulder. In an instant, the mummy crumpled into dust, and Ren jumped back out of shock. "What happened here?" Coco asked, slightly scared.

"It's a side effect of those things," Julian said and pointed towards a grey object stuck in the street.

It looked like some sort of pod, and more petrified humans were scattered around it. Weird green threads were hanging over them, like an algae or plant. The green material was even on the ground, emanating from the pod.

"The Elders dropped those things in all cities at the start of the Invasion. They petrified everything around them, enabling the Aliens to abduct them more easily."

"Bradford? Is that true?" Jaune asked, pressing on the little comm device he received.

"You think I'm lying?" Julian replied annoyed but was ignored.

 _"Yes. Even to this day, we aren't fully aware of what these pods actually are. We know that they cause radiation though, which in turn created the Lost."_

"Great. Space pods of doom." Coco said and kicked the object.

"Where do we go now?" Megumin asked, looking around for any potential threats.

"This way would be the fastest," Julian explained and pointed at a long street.

"How do you-"

"I accessed leftover data from before the invasion. Now come." Julian took the lead, and the other five followed him down the street, always on edge.

From time to time, they heard sounds in the distance or in the buildings. There even were some pieces of rocks and bricks falling down and breaking on the street. Petrified humans were scattered everywhere in all imaginable positions, and pods were sticking out of the street or buildings from time to time. Even the remains of car crashes and battles were still visible.

There were cars that crashed into each other, barricades and abandoned war machines. The rotted corpses of soldiers were still there, some in worse condition the others. Even the remains of dead Aliens were visible here and there, and Jaune stopped at the body of a small, pinkish creature. "What's that?"

"Oh, I like the color." Donut said.

"This would be one of the old Sectoids."

"That's how small they were? It's adorable." Donut said, clearly getting a bit excited.

"Until they are shooting at you. Stay clear of Alien Corpses. We don't know why some of them haven't rotted yet, and frankly, I don't want to find out now."

"But-"

"Stop," Ren said and grabbed Stormflower.

"What?"

"I heard something," Ren muttered and looked into a gaping hole in the side of a building. Something moved inside and slowly came towards them. As it stepped out into the light, it became clear what it was.

It was a humanoid, with a sickish grey body. Batches of the strange material were visible on its body glowing a faint green. Its lips were rotted away, and its green glowing eyes were deep in their sockets. The skeleton of the being was visible through the skin, meaning that this thing didn't need to eat, or at least didn't do it in a long time.

"What the hell is that?" Jaune asked, and stepped back a bit.

"A Lost," Julian replied and shot his rifle. It put a lot of holes into the mutant, and it died instantly, sliding down a small ledge.

"They look worse than I expected," Coco muttered.

"They look like the undead," Megumin added.

"They aren't. Lost are just mutated. But as long as you keep hitting them, they won't pose much of a problem. They are rather fragile. A lot of more experienced operatives consider them mere target practice."

"Finally something that doesn't shoot back," Coco muttered.

"It's not like you were on any missions before," Ren replied, causing Coco to roll her eyes.

Now that the Lost was dealt with, the group continued down the street, passing more memorials of past battles and the original invasion. As they came close to an intersection, they spotted a group of Lost, walking around a crashed ambulance. "Great. More of them." Coco said and activated the machine gun mode of her weapon.

It easily mowed down the Lost in front of the ambulance and put big holes into the vehicle itself. "Those things really are easy to kill."

"You messed up," Julian replied.

"What?" Coco asked in confusion. "Was I not supposed to kill them?"

"You were, but you also-" Julian couldn't finish, as the ambulance disappeared in a big fireball, and Coco realized the mistake she made.

"Looks like you hit the Headlight Fluid container." Donut said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Julian asked.

"Here they come," Jaune said, readying his stance and weapons. Multiple green eyes appeared in the mist, and a swarm of six Lost quickly peeled out of the fog.

"Let me handle this," Megumin said and pushed Jaune to the side.

"I wanna do something too..." Jaune muttered.

"Megumin? What are you-"

Megumin pointed her staff at the Lost, and some sort of black energy started to dance around its tip. "In the name of all gods in existence, and in abidance to the laws of nature. I, Megumin, the strongest Mage this side of the River Styx, will cast the hammer of eternity upon thee. For you are about to be sent back to the origins of creation." The black energy went into her staff, and big, red runes appeared in the sky.

"Megumin, don't-"

"EXPLOSION!"

The light of the spell blinded everyone for a second, and the shockwave threw them off their feet. After their vision returned, they were able to see the aftermath of the attack. Nothing but a gigantic crater was left of the Lost. Buildings around them crumbled onto the street, and molten steel dripped down. Even the sky over the crater was clear, although only for a moment.

"That was great." Megumin sighed and collapsed.

"Megumin!" Jaune yelled and ran to her.

"Hey. Can you carry me please?"

"Are you crazy?" Jaune asked.

"I will punch you."

"You realize that explosions draw in the Lost, right?" Coco asked.

Megumin slowly looked up with a mix of confusion and fear on her face. "I didn't know that."

"Right, she came in just after Bradford explained that," Ren explained.

 _"Everyone! Get to a safe position!_ " Bradford yelled over the comms.

"Are the Lost coming?" Donut asked back.

 _"Yes. All of them. Every single Lost-biosignature in Sydney and the surrounding area is currently moving towards you. You have to get out of there. Now."_ Tygan explained, and everyone looked around in panic.

"Well done, Megumin!" Coco yelled.

"Sorry. I didn't know-"

"Enough. We have to get out of here, quick." Jaune replied. "Donut? Can you carry Megumin?"

"Sure thing." Donut went over to the mage, and picked her up, gently throwing her over his shoulder.

"Julian? Where is the best position?"

"It would be best to move to the Opera House and take out the turret. Firebrand can pick us up from there."

"We'll do that. Shoot when you see a Lost, but keep moving." Jaune said. "Megumin? Try to use your Bullpup."

"Sure. But don't expect much. I'm not good with guns." Megumin replied, shakingly holding up her gun while hanging over Donut's shoulder.

"Has she even used one before?" Coco asked.

"Doesn't matter now," Jaune replied. "We have to get to the Opera. Julian, show us the way."

"And quickly, please," Ren added and nodded towards the other side of the street. Dozens of Lost ran towards them, partially climbing over each other.

"Shit. Run!" Jaune screamed in terror and ran ahead.

The others followed him, taking potshots whenever possible. Suddenly, one Lost crashed through a window directly above Jaune. he managed to hold up his shield and cut the Lost in two with his sword.

More Lost broke through windows and doors, hundreds of them filling the street behind the six. At last, they finally got away from the big street, finding themselves in front of a big park. Even here, the plants were dead, and a pod was in the middle of the park.

Julian, however, ran farther down the road to the left, going into the direction of the water. They followed him, more and more Lost chasing them. Some particularly fast ones reached out to them, but Ren cut them down with Stormflower. From time to time, Megumin shot too but rarely hit her target. Not only was she barely able to hold up her weapon, but she was also shaking from fear, as there was a wall of mutated humans chasing after them.

Although Jaune only caught a glimpse of her face from time to time, he could see that the mage knew that this was somewhat her fault. And that Megumin felt somewhat useless now that she was unable to move.

"There!" Donut yelled out, pointing at the peculiar shape of the Opera House that became visible on the horizon. A tower, presumably the turret, was standing in front of it.

The six of them quickly covered the distance to the Opera House and went inside. Julian blew up the door with the help of his BIT. "Dude, aren't they-"

"That explosion won't attract more," Julian replied.

"What now?" Coco asked.

"Search for the records with Ren," Jaune said. "Julian? Let's figure out how to destroy that turret."

"You realize that it is outside, right?" The SPARK asked. "Then again, they have had to control it somehow. There has to be a control panel in here."

"Okay then. Donut, Megumin, you two will watch the entrance."

"But I got us into this situation! I wanna help!"

"You can't move anyways." Donut explained.

Megumin sighed, and Donut laid her down on a nearby bench so that she could aim her Bullpup towards the entrance. He himself took his Assault Rifle and sat down on a chair.

"Come on, Julian. We have to find something." Jaune said and left together with the Robot. The one thing he didn't mention was that leaving Megumin at the entrance was also a bit of a punishment for fucking things up this badly.

"This is great." He could hear Donut from behind. "We can talk about clothes and wine... Oh, or the new season of..."

Yes, the punishment seemed to be working.

* * *

"Found anything?" Coco asked as she came back up from looking under a counter. Her own search wasn't very successful. True, the records probably wouldn't be kept at the information, but she hoped to at least find a map. Sadly, it looked like almost everything got scavenged already.

"No, nothing," Ren replied. he had looked through bags and other containers that stood around but found nothing either.

They met up in the middle of the room and passed through a destroyed wall. "So..." Coco said, trying to stir up a conversation with the normally quiet and stoic Ren. "You think there's a way to take out all those zombies outside?"

"My first idea would honestly be bombardment," Ren replied. "Though the only thing we really have to do is to find the records and disable the turret."

They walked up to a door that obviously led to a staffroom, and Coco put her hand on the handle. "I just hope that we manage to do it before the Lost break in."

She pushed down the handle, and nearly froze at what she saw. A heavy, disgusting stench of death overwhelmed her. Hundreds of thoughts went through her mind before she suddenly felt a strange calmness engulfing her. She noticed Ren's hand on her shoulder. "What-"

"I used my Semblance to calm you down." Ren looked forward into the room and frowned. "Still, this is horrible."

Coco nodded and walked in.

The thing, or rather person, that freaked her out so much was obviously one of the people that had hidden in here. And she was in this room... hanging from the ceiling.

"Why did she..." Coco muttered.

"Maybe she couldn't take it anymore." Ren guessed and picked up a note sticking out of her pocket.

 _"23. Januar 2023._

 _Damn it. The Lost are coming in again and again, just like Advent's cleansing operations. If this keeps up, then we'll be unable to hold up in here. And Old Will said that this Opera House would be a good position. Yeah, might be easy to defend, but you also don't have any options with the Lost practically before our very door._

 _04\. February 2032._

 _Nida has finally snapped. Apparently, the lack of food got to her too much. She actually started to try and kill Larry. Good thing we found her early enough. God knows what will happen if this keeps up..._

 _16\. February 2032._

 _It actually happened. It actually fucking happened. We thought Nida was alright again, but as soon as we let her out, she grabbed a nearby paperweight and knocked Old Will over the head with it! The bitch killed him! And... And I don't know if I did the right thing. I... I stabbed her. I mean, we can't let her run around here, can we?_

 _20\. February 2032._

 _It's all my fault. After I killed Nida, she just woke up again. She turned into one of them, one of the Lost. And the others had started to turn too. This has to be some form of divine punishment for my actions. But I'll not be claimed by them. I would rather take my own life than turn into one of those monsters. It is a perfect time, after all, they are killing each other outside of this room."  
_

"Holy Shit..." Coco muttered. "That's..." She looked at the heavily decomposed body, which was only held in form by some leftover pieces of clothes and muscles. "That's horrible."

"I've found them!" Ren said and held up a box. It looked like he wasn't hit as hard as she was, and she guessed that was due to his Semblance keeping his emotions in check. Coco slowly walked up to him, and he opened the box. It contained multiple flash drives, coded in different colors, and clearly labeled.

Coco took one out and wiped away the dust. "The Wizard of Oz. You think those still work?"

"I sure hope so. Bradford? We found the records."

 _"Great. Now disable that turret, so that we can get you outta there. Where there any survivors?"_

Coco took a deep breath. "No. It looks like they killed each other after hiding here."

There was a long pause, as Bradford thought about these words. _"Okay. But watch out, there's the possibility that they became Lost."_

Ren shut off the transmission and walked towards the exit. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

Coco followed him but turned around one last time to look at the hanging body. She closed the door quietly.

* * *

Jaune and Julian were walking through one of the big concert halls of the Opera House, desperately looking for the controls to disable the turret. Luckily, they had found a cable that was obviously added on after the last play had taken place here, and was stuck to the wall with military-grade duct tape.

Since then, they had started to follow the cable, until they arrived here. One of the walls was destroyed, filling half of the hall with rubble, and the skeletal remains of humans laid around the area.

"It's kinda depressing," Jaune muttered. "I mean, this was a great concert hall once. And now we're walking through here to search for a way to shut off a turret."

"Hey, did you hear that?" Julian asked.

"Hear what?" Jaune asked, putting a hand on his sword.

"The ghosts of the departed. They tell you to shut the fuck up."

"Seriously? What's wrong with you?" Jaune asked annoyed.

"The fact that I am a highly advanced AI trapped in this robot body, and forced to obey every order. The least I could have is some peace."

"Sorry. Jeez." He stepped onto the stage and walked up to a small machine standing in the back.

By the looks of it, this thing was a simple transportable generator. The cable ended in the generator, meaning that it provided the turret with power.

Jaune stabbed his sword into the generator, and sparks flew into the air before it died down. Smoke came out, and Jaune jumped down to Julian. "The turret shouldn't have any power left."

"This is weird," Julian replied. "This was a coal generator."

"Coal? Wait, how did it still work? Shouldn't it have used up all its fuel years ago?"

"That's the weird thing. Maybe someone refilled it recently."

"But who-"

 _"Jaune? Here's Donut."_ The comms suddenly came to life, and loud shots were heard in the background. Donut's voice was higher than usual, meaning he was panicking. _"The Zombies have broken through!"_

"What? Is Coco with you?"

 _"Yeah. Is the turret disabled?"_ Coco replied.

"It is. Call Firebrand, we have to get the hell out of here!" Jaune yelled into the comms, starting to run towards the entrance.

As soon as he came around the corner, he saw that the rubble wasn't blocking the entrance anymore. The hordes of lost had managed to push it out of the way and were now pouring into the building.

Coco was laying waste to the mutants, while Megumin, who was able to stand again, tried her best to help out with her Bullpup.

Ren took out whatever Lost got past, together with Donut. "Did you call the evac?" Julian asked.

"We can't. There's no way we can get out there now." Coco yelled.

"Julian? Do you still got explosives?"

"A couple of spares. Stay back." Julian fired the small rockets into the air, and rubble rained down. The weak light of the moon shone through the hole, and Donut threw the LZ-markers onto the ground.

They formed a square, and it didn't take long for Firebrand's engines to echo through the air. Ropes fell down, and Ren grabbed one. The rope shot up, together with Ren and the records.

"Donut!"

"Coming!" Donut grabbed the ropes and held on with all his might. "Man, this is almost like a pol-" He was cut off, and his words turned into screaming as he shot up.

"Megumin? Can you hold on?"

"I don't think I've regained that much strength yet. You have to carry me." She replied.

"Julian? Can you-" Jaune stopped, as he saw that Julian was already flying up to the ship, leaving them alone. "Oh screw you."

"Jaune? We gotta do something. I'm out of ammo here!" Coco said, and Jaune noticed that the girl had started to kick the Lost away, or hit them with her bag.

"Go up! I'm gonna take Megumin!"

"Okay, but don't overdo it!" Coco replied, and grabbed the ropes.

Jaune put his arm around the mage and walked over to the LZ. The Lost came in behind him, and he heard how Megumin's weapon clicked. "It's empty."

"Damn it!" Jaune shouted. He was just about to grab the rope, as he was pulled back. He turned his head and saw that one of the Lost managed to get a hold of Megumin's leg, while others started to grab her as well.

He tried to stand his ground and grab the rope, but the Lost became too strong. He stumbled back, and fell, while the Lost surrounded him.

His view started to go black, as more and more mutated humans came into view. And then they all fell. His eyes darted around in confusion, only to land on a strange figure, engaging the Lost with two shortswords.

Jaune tried to get a better look at their savior but someone pulled on his clothes. "Come on!"

Quickly regaining his senses, he grabbed her, and then the rope with his other hand. It shot up, and he looked down, watching the figure tearing through the Lost.

The last thing he saw from the battlefield was the figure's head, obstructed by a black mask, made out of the broken helmet of an Advent Officer.

He managed to throw Megumin into the ship and grabbed the edge of the hangar bay. It took almost all of his remaining strength to pull himself upwards.

He took a deep breath and sat down in the empty seat. "We- We did it."

"Was pretty close though." Coco pointed out and helped Megumin up into a seat.

"Who was that?" Megumin asked, rubbing a deep wound on her forearm. "They were tearing through the Lost like a knife through butter."

"I dunno. Maybe a member of the resistance?" Donut suggested.

"It doesn't matter for now," Julian said. "Let's just get back to the Avenger."

* * *

"Good job down there." Bradford said as the team came out of Firebrand.

"Except for one," Coco muttered and threw a glare at Megumin.

"I said I'm sorry. No one told me that they were attracted to explosions!"

"Yes, it is partially our fault," Bradford said, trying to calm down the situation. "Can you give me the records?"

"Here." Ren gave him the strongbox, and Bradford opened it.

"Yes, looks like what we were after."

"By the way, we were saved by some cloaked figure..." Jaune pointed out, receiving confused looks from Bradford.

"Cloaked figure? That's... weird. My first guess would be a Reaper, but I don't think any of them operate in Australia."

"Reapers?" Ren asked.

"Deadly Snipers. They have their HQ near Mars but try to stay hidden. Could you discern what weapon they used?"

"Swords," Jaune explained. "Shortswords, at least I think so. I think I also saw a pistol on their hip and some other gun on their back. It was definitely not a Sniper Rifle though."

"Than it was definitely not a Reaper. Are you sure it wasn't one of the people that lived there?"

"Unlikely," Coco replied. "If the diary is true then no one survived there."

"Okay then. I'll try to organize a little call to maybe find out more. Please, bring the box to Tygan. He'll keep it safe."

"Understood," Ren replied and took back the strongbox.

"And you..." Bradford said sternly, looking at Megumin. "I'll talk with Kazuma about what happened."

"Sorry..." Megumin replied quietly.

"Hey, get to the AWC," Jaune said calmly. "You're hurt, aren't you? We don't want that wound to infect itself."

"Good idea." With that, Megumin left, leaving only Jaune, Coco, Donut, Bradford and Julian.

"If anyone cares, I'll go back to stare at a corner and question my life choices," Julian said and left too.

"Is he always such a jackass?" Coco asked, watching the SPARK.

"Yes. Yes, he is." Bradford replied. "By the way, Donut. Sarge has been looking for you. Apparently, you've left something in his room?"

"Oh, my Roquefort Cheese! I've wondered where it went!" Donut ran off, trying to save his food.

"Where did he even get that?" Jaune asked.

"I... I have no idea. And if I learned one thing about all of you, than not to question it." Bradford said. "Jaune? You're the one who has seen that figure. Care to join the conversation?"

"No problem. Let's go."

* * *

It took fifteen minutes until everyone needed for the conversation was available. Jaune and Bradford sat at the table inside the Resistance Ring, a room mostly used for organizing the next steps of the Resistance.

There were four big screens in the room, two of which currently active. One showed an older man with a strong beard, in front of a wall full of trophies. That man was named Volk, and the Leader of the Reapers, according to Bradford.

"That's the basic gist of it." Bradford finished.

"A hooded figure saving your people?" Volk asked.

"Could it be one of your Reapers?" Jaune asked.

"Impossible. We have no Reapers operating in Australia. Only in Asia and Europe. It would actually be impossible to get there without any aircrafts or boats. Additionally, we do not use swords. Only our specialized Rifles."

"And what about one of your acquaintances, Mr. Komaeda?" Bradford asked, looking at the second screen, which showed the face of Nagito.

"I am pretty sure the only one capable of that would be Peko Pekoyama."

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"She is, or was known, as the Ultimate Swordswoman," Nagito explained. "Sadly, it cannot be her. She was amongst the Ultimates that got captured by the Elders."

"So you have no idea either?" Bradford sighed.

"No. Unless we meet that person again, we cannot say who it is," Nagito muttered.

"I agree with him. If you should meet them again, try to apprehend them." Volk added. "Having them in the Resistance would give us a useful operative. Volk out." The screen shut down, leaving only the other three.

"I've heard your next stop is Phobos?" Nagito asked, shifting the topic.

"Yes. Why?"

"I will inform someone there of your arrival, in case you need some help. Good luck." With those words, Nagito disappeared too.

"Well, that was a load of nothing," Jaune muttered.

"I wouldn't say so. We can now safely say that it was no Reaper or any of Nagito's friends. However, that doesn't solve our major problem."

"Which would be?" Jaune asked.

"Which side are they on? Your description could fit a member of the resistance, some third faction in this war, or some specialized member of Advent. If we're unlucky, then it might actually be a fourth Chosen."

"Chosen?" Jaune asked. "Who are they?"

"Creatures created by the Elders. They are unwavering hunters, pressing down on the Resistance for years. Luckily, they've pretty much disappeared after Advent's efforts to take control of the other realms. But that doesn't mean there couldn't be new members."

"Why didn't you kill them?"

Bradford stood up, and walked over to a whiteboard, full of old reports. "We did. Multiple times. But they just kept coming back. Tygan thinks there may be a facility they get transported back too, but we are not sure."

"But they aren't a problem, right? If they have disappeared..."

"We can only hope so. But as long as the possibility exists, I will order Tygan to keep an eye out for any clues concerning our purple friends." Bradford looked at Jaune. "For now, you're dismissed, Mr. Arc. You've done a great job leading the team down there. You can expect to be in that role more times in the future."

"Thank you." Jaune stood up, and walked over to the door.

"Just a minute." Bradford interrupted.

"What is it?" Jaune was a bit confused why Bradford had already dismissed him if there was still something to talk about, but it seemed like Bradford had a lot on his mind right now.

"Here." Bradford handed him a paper.

"What are those?"

"The classes for the team you just lead. Please, try to inform them."

"No problem." Jaune skimmed over the names. He himself was designated as Ranger, unsurprisingly.

However, there was one who he didn't hear off. "What's a battlemage?"

"It's a decision the Commander and I made," Bradford explained. "Megumin is one of the more... special operatives and we thought that it might be best to reflect that. Also, this class includes that she's forbidden to come along on missions that involve the Lost."

"Well, that's useful. Thanks. I'll tell everyone." Jaune left, the door closing behind him. He sighed loudly, and started to walk down the hallways.

On one hand, he was proud to be praised by Bradford. However, the mission also made him realize just how serious the situation was. While the missions back at Beacon mostly included fighting small batches of Grimm, this was an actual war.

And he was considered one of the team leaders on the ship, meaning he would be sent along more times than others. But at least he could ensure the safety of his friends that way. He'd be damned if one of them died under his watch.

He took another glimpse at the paper, trying to remember the specializations. It would be necessary for future missions.

Coco Adel - Grenadier

Lie Ren - Specialist

Megumin - Battlemage

Franklin Delano Donut - Grenadier

Jaune Arc - Ranger

* * *

 **And here is Chapter 7.**

 **This one took a while, sorry. Like I already explained in another story, a lot of the files on my Computer got corrupted, so I had to rewrite them.**

 **However, there are also good news. I've seen that this story now has a site on TV-Tropes, which I find pretty awesome.**

 **With that out of the way, here are the replies:**

 **nphillips0115: Other characters from the universes will show up at some point. After all, not everyone would go down without a fight. Especially someone like the Banished.  
The idea that the Rulers/Chosen give Exp is great, I will consider it. Maybe even some of the stronger normal enemies. **

**Jack: Well, Tyrian swore. Just because it isn't shown in the show doesn't mean they wouldn't. They are teenagers thrown into a war. It'd be more surprising if none of them ever swore.**

 **Ellight1: Sure, I'll contact you about that once it's time to add it in. Thanks.**

 ** ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft**********


	8. Tropical vacation

Chapter 8: Tropical vacation

The Sun stood high at its zenith over the middle part of the Pacific ocean. The deep blue water washed upon the shores of a small Island Chain, forming long, bright beaches of sand. Tropical birds flew around in the air, and a lone Green Sea turtle was laying its eggs into the warm sand.

In the northern part of the main Island, Timatanga was the location of a big flat area, designated as a landing zone for the Avenger. Workers were busy with loading supplies, mostly food, into the Avenger, as well as carrying away supplies meant for the Haven.

A small group of XCOM operatives, consisting of Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Lavernius Tucker and Aqua was walking through the small settlement, looking for anything interesting.

The houses mostly consisted of small shacks made out of wood and straw and were partially built over the water, atop wooden posts.

A couple of boats were docked along the shore, mostly fisher boats, although they were able to spot one or two bigger, but apparently old, boats amongst them.

"Looks peaceful," Ruby muttered.

"Except for the law enforcement..." Yang added, nodding towards one of the militia members. They all wore cloaks, and bulky, round helmets that didn't give even the smallest glimpse of their face.

"I'm sure those are the Templars," Aqua said.

"Templars?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah. Bradford mentioned them last evening. Apparently, they are masters of psionic powers." Yang explained. "Though I think it sounds more like, you know, a cult."

"It is normal for people to form cults in situations like that. Every major religion back on Remnant started this way, and I'm sure it is the same on Earth." Weiss said.

"Pretty much," Tucker replied. "Those guys freak me the hell out though. Police were bad enough without crazy mind tricks."

"Sounds like you had some run-ins with them..." Aqua muttered.

"Listen. Yang, Ruby, Weiss, you too. There are chicks that t _ell_ you that they are legal."

"Dude. What the hell did you do?" Yang asked, raising an eyebrow, and instinctively putting herself in front of Ruby.

"The charges were dropped, 'kay? However, I think I might still be considered a criminal by some colonies. Not to mention the possible child insurance I might have to pay." He noticed how the four girls looked at him, ranging from a concerned Yang to a disgusted Weiss. "Come on, you look at me like I'm scum."

"Well, I mean, we're all in the same boat right now." Yang shrugged. "No need of hostility because of something that was in the past. Put stay away from Rubes, okay?"

Tucker nodded, and the five stepped down a small, set of wooden stairs, now standing on the clean beach. "So... Does anyone have swimsuits?" Yang asked.

"No."

"Where would we even get that stuff?" Aqua asked. "I don't think XCOM has any-"

"You have no right to talk anyway." Weiss interrupted. "You're never wearing underwear."

"What? I am wearing underwear, thank you very much."

"Right..." Ruby muttered. "We all know that you don't... Sadly. Seriously, at least wear a longer skirt."

"I am wearing panties! I've just made them invisible!" Aqua snapped, receiving confused looks from everyone.

"Why?"

"Because it's embarrassing if others can see them," Aqua replied.

"I'm not even sure what to say." Ruby deadpanned.

"Me neither," Tucker replied and looked over to a small cliff. "Hey, is that a cave?"

"Cave?" Weiss asked, and turned around. She held her hand over her eyes to block out the sun. "Yeah, seems like it."

"Wanna investigate?" Ruby asked in excitement. "There could be treasure inside!"

"Let's do it!" Yang said, punching her fists together.

"Ugh, do we have to?" Weiss asked. "I came here to relax on the beach..."

"Come on, Weiss," Yang replied and put her arm around the heiress. "What about having fun?"

"Fine. It's just gonna be a little hole anyways." Weiss agreed.

"Bow Chicka-bow-wow!"

The five walked up to the hole in the cliff and crawled through. The other side was big enough to stand, though it was as dark as the night, except for a small cone of light coming from the entrance.

"Okay... We were in here. Can we go back out n-" Weiss turned around, only to see, or rather hear, stones falling from the ceiling. They entirely blocked out the entrance and light. "No!"

"Shit!" Tucker yelled and tried to shove the stones beside. "What? It's... It's one giant boulder..."

"What?" Yang asked. "You gotta be joking."

"We need light!" Ruby yelled and tugged on Yang's hair.

"HEY!" Yang screamed, her Semblance activating. The girl's hair lit on fire and her eyes turned red, providing a little bit of light.

"Wait... The ground..." Weiss muttered.

"It's covered in stone plates?" Tucker muttered, looking down. Though Yang's Semblance only lighted up a small area around her, it was clearly visible that the floor was covered in grey plates of stone, carefully chiseled out of granite.

"We're in an Arena..." Aqua muttered.

"What?" Ruby asked. "How do you-"

"I can see in the dark. Just as good as I can in broad daylight." Aqua explained.

"Wow, you're useful for once," Yang muttered. "Is this really an arena?"

"It seems to be. I can spot rows of seats, a small throne... And we're in the middle of it. Just like... gladiators."

"Come on, that can't be right," Weiss replied. "She's just trying to show off."

"No, you're not mistaken!" A deep, boisterous voice replied, echoing through the room like an ancient spirit. "This is, indeed, and Arena. An Arena to test the mightiest XCOM has to offer!"

Suddenly, candles and torches lighted up everywhere, illuminating the entire Arena. It was cut into the cave, preserving the natural ceiling, while small patches of Ocean water still stood at the sides, coming in through small tunnels. Stone seats gave the entire thing an Aztec or Mayan look.

"Yang... What the hell did you get us into?" Weiss asked.

"Uh... I dunno." Yang replied.

* * *

"This... This is supposed to be an office building?" Jaune asked. He, Bradford, the Commander, and Masterchief were walking through the main building of Phobos. It was built on the side of the volcano that formed the Island and was only reachable over a long set of stairs.

The building itself was made out of basalt and other volcanic stone, and full of old artifacts, leftovers of the human civilization before the Invasion. Templars stood around at every intersection, guarding the complex.

"Geist was always... proud of our species," Bradford explained. "From what I've heard, he's been interested in history even before the Invasion."

"How old is he exactly?" The Chief asked.

"Fifty. He and the other original Templars were our first Psi's back during the original Invasion. After we lost, they hid here, honing their psychic powers." The Commander added. "As far as I know, Geist always believed humanity to be above all other species. And that surely did not change after our first contact with the Aliens."

They walked up to a big door, and the Commander opened it. Geist, wearing a yellow robe, was standing behind a table made out of tropical wood. He looked out of a window, giving him a good view of the Island.

Display Cases stood at the sides of the room, showing off the most valuable things the Templars had collected over the years, ranging from books to an old sword.

"Good day, Commander." Geist greeted and turned around. "I suppose you have what I asked for?"

"Of course. Here they are." The Commander put the box containing the records down on the table, and Geist opened it.

"Those are... Twenty Five, right?" He took a flash drive out of the box, and read the label. "The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King... Looks like a fine little collection. Are these all?"

"Yes," Jaune explained. "We weren't able to search for more since we were about to be overrun by the Lost."

"Nothing you can do about that," Geist replied and closed the box. "You've fulfilled your mission, there is no doubt about that. I'm a man to keep my promise. I will send one of my best Templars to the Avenger to help you out."

"Thank you," Bradford said.

"And you must be one of the new operatives?" Geist asked, looking at Jaune. "You don't seem like much of a fighter."

"Well, I'm more of a tactician. Not that great of a fighter." Jaune replied, scratching the back of his head.

"However, the... Masterchief, was it? He seems to be above normal human levels."

"I am a Spartan, Sir. We've been trained to defend Earth for all our life." The Chief replied.

"Can you tell me something?" Geist asked. "I've heard the new Operatives have some... special powers. Are they in any way related to Psi?"

"No, they aren't," Bradford replied. "For once we have Aura and Semblance, belonging to Jaune and his friends."

"Yeah, we haven't tried if anyone else can have them though."

"And then there's, well, magic." The Commander added. "Though we are not sure how that works in the first place."

"Magic? What kind of magic?"

"I have no idea," Bradford answered. "It's completely different from Psi though."

"If we could combine them..." Geist muttered. "We could be unbeatable."

"That's true." The Chief replied. "But there's no telling what the consequences might be."

"Can you get one of your operatives here?" Geist asked. "Preferably one without any magical abilities?"

"You want to try it?" Bradford asked. "I think it should be done in a more controlled environment."

"Don't be silly. I want to know if we can activate their, what did you call it, Aura."

"Okay, let me call Tucker. He should be available." Bradford pulled out a small tablet and typed in Tucker's Operative number.

Every Operative had one, either to receive calls from Command or to be easily identifiable. Normally, it worked and should connect right with the user's communication device. But this time, nothing but static answered. "That's weird."

"Maybe he's out of reach?" Jaune guessed.

"Fine. I'm gonna call Caboose then." Bradford said.

"Why him?"

"Because he's the most expendable if something goes wrong."

* * *

"This is insane!" Yang yelled. "Why do we have to fight?"

"There is no sense in fighting if you're not strong enough. That would be suicide, an insult to life itself." The voice replied. "So I will test you, find out if you are what you claim to be."

Openings in the walls slid up, and Sectoids came out. They seemed to be starved and were full of bruises, meaning that they were prisoners of the Haven. Not surprising that they would take prisoners, but it was surprising that they were sent against XCOM.

"Okay, we can do that," Ruby replied, taking Crescent Rose from her back.

"It's only two Sectoids," Weiss added, drawing Myrtenaster.

The Aliens charged towards them, and Yang managed to grab one by the throat, before ramming him into the ground. The Sectoid broke its neck and died instantly.

Weiss blocked the other Sectoids with a glyph, enabling Ruby and Tucker to cut it in half with their weapons. "There. We won. Can we go now?" Aqua asked.

"You didn't even do anything," Yang said.

"Defeating two minor Aliens is no feat to be proud of. Now, you'll face a harder challenge!"

A third door opened, and a four-legged, purple Alien crawled out. "A Chryssalid?" Ruby asked in shock.

The Alien ran towards them, ready to lay its eggs. It jumped onto Yang, but Ruby shot at it with her Scythe. The Alien flew off Yang but was still alive. It charged again, locking its claws with Ruby's scythe. Suddenly, it was thrown into the air by a Glyph, and Myrtenaster was dug through its throat as it fell down again.

"Yes!" Ruby yelled. "We did it. Yang?" She looked at her sister, who was on the ground. Purple blood was spilling out of a wound on her stomach. The skin around it had taken on a sick, purple color. "Yang!"

"She's poisoned," Weiss muttered. "That thing by-passed her Aura."

"Damn it. Does anyone have an antidote?"

"Let me handle this," Aqua replied, putting her hands on Yang's wound. "Purification!" A white light appeared on it, closing the wound and causing the purple to disappear.

"Hmph. It seems like you've proven yourself." The voice replied, clearly amused. "Thus, I shall grant you the honor of facing off against the master of this dungeon!"

"Dungeon? Are we in a video game?" Yang asked.

"Show yourself! We won't have any problem defeating you!" Ruby yelled.

"Very well. Let me introduce myself. I am the master of this dungeon, and wildly known as the Beastmaster on this Island." Somehow, Lightning struck at the corners of the room, and a figure walked down the stairs.

It jumped down, landing on its feet. Purple flames erupted on nearby stone torches, giving them a good look at the 'creature'.

It was clearly a male human, wearing a black jacket over a white shirt. He wore a purple scarf, that covered his mouth. His right eye was red, while the left, grey eye had a thunder-shaped scar running through it. His left arm was wrapped in bandages, and his dark hair was slicked back, except for a curly part that stuck upwards.

"You have a lot of courage to fight for XCOM, and face Advent. I respect that. And out of this respect, you shall receive my name. I am Gundham Tanaka, The Supreme Overlord of Ice!"

"Uhm, is he a bit... not there? Like, mentally?" Ruby asked.

"I think so," Weiss replied.

"Foolish. You have not won yet." Gundham said. "You still have to beat me."

"Dude, I have a Plasma Sword," Tucker muttered. "This... This won't..." Tucker started talking slower, until fell to his knees, holding his head.

"Tucker!" Ruby yelled and kneeled down. "Everything okay?"

"My head... I can't think clearly..."

"Looks like one of you has already succumbed to my vast powers," Gundham said with a smirk.

"Oh, you're going to pay... He... Hehe..." Yang started to laugh uncontrollably, causing Ruby's head to snap toward her. Multiple balls of fur were running over her, and it took a moment to see what they were.

"Are those... Hamsters?" Weiss muttered.

"They're tickling her!" Ruby screamed in horror.

"Okay, this has gone on for long enough," Weiss said and created a glyph to throw herself at Gundham. However, the man stepped to the side quickly, and some sort of purple whip hit the back of Weiss, throwing her to the ground.

"Weiss?! Are you okay?" Ruby yelled.

"Please... No more plumbs, Klein..." Weiss muttered. It sounded like the impact knocked her out.

"Dammit. Only the two of us are left." Aqua muttered.

"Yeah..." Ruby replied, looking at the others. Weiss was knocked out o the ground, Yang was getting tickled to death by hamsters and Tucker was hallucinating. "You know, this fight's kinda ridiculous."

"I'm used to it," Aqua replied. "Now let's-" Aqua stopped, as two Hamsters jumped onto her head, and started to mess up her hair. "Get them off!" She ran around screaming, and right into a wall, knocking herself out.

Ruby led her Scythe down and sighed. "I... I kinda get how Kazuma feels."

"So, do you give up?" Gundham asked.

"Forget it," Ruby replied, angry. "You knocked out all my friends, and captured us in here, making us fight Aliens."

"You've got spirit. That, I can admire. But you're powerless. After Nagito called, I hoped that you had the power to defeat the Dark Gods, but it seems like I was mistaken."

"Wait, you know that creep?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"We were classmates," Gundham replied. "You should prepare for your end now. Go forth, my Tarot-Generals!" Behind him, a big group of hamsters started forming.

"Oh dear..." Ruby replied. "I- I don't wanna fight hamsters."

"It will not take long." The hamsters lunged forward, only to land in nothingness and a couple of Rose Petals. "What?"

"Looks like you don't know my Semblance," Ruby said, now standing on the seats at the side. "I can turn into Rose Pedals, and move insanely fast."

"So the red girl still has a trick up her sleeve. How very interesting. But tell me, what will you do now?"

"Well, you kinda beat up my whole... Actually, your hamsters did most of the work. But they are under your command, so I'll just hafta knock you out, right?"

"Try it. But a lowly mortal like you could never defeat Gundham Tanaka!"

"We'll see." Ruby used her Semblance to run forward. She noticed how Gundham prepared to block her attack, and some sort of purple shield appeared in front of him.

She was unable to stop in time and ran against the shield. The impact nearly broke her Aura, and Ruby fell on her butt. "Ouch."

"Not a bad trick. You wanted to knock me to the ground, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Ruby admitted with a slight grin. "Or was it?"

"What?" A gunshot ran through the cave, as Crescent Rose retracted into it's gun-form. The process caused the back side of the blade to hit Gundham's ankles, and it threw him to the ground. Ruby used the chance and ran around him as fast as possible. She created a storm of rose petals, lifting Gundham into the air, before slamming him into the ground.

She heard the sound of bones cracking, and saw how the hamsters around them ran away in panic. Ruby slammed the hilt of her Scythe into the ground and looked at her foe.

Gundham laid on the ground, blood coming out of his mouth. "Not... Not bad."

"Oh my gosh! Sorry, I forgot that you guys don't have Aura here!" Ruby yelled, kneeling down next to him.

"I'm alive, that's all that matters," Gundham replied. "You knew that I would use my Psi Shield, right?"

"Well, I thought you'd do something like that. I saw you using a purple whip against Weiss earlier, and I heard about Psi stuff on the Avenger. I thought you might try that. So I tried to warp my Scythe around your feet to knock you down while crashing into you."

"Clever girl." Gundham stood back up, holding his side. "I think you have what it takes to defeat Advent."

"So this really was a test?"

"Of course. Even if you weren't ready to fight Advent, that would not mean you'd have to die." Gundham replied.

"So... What about the others?"

"Ugh, I think I barfed in my helmet," Tucker muttered, standing up again. "What happened?"

"I scrambled your mind."

"How?"

"Psi. Everyone who wants to live on this Island has to do basic training in it. But unlike many fools, I continued afterward. Now, I believe you want a way out of this forsaken cave?"

"Yeah, would be nice," Ruby muttered.

"Open Sesame!" Gundham yelled, and lightning struck down again. The Hamsters came back in and started to shove away the rocks that blocked the entrance.

* * *

Mendi Riley has had a long day. First a meeting about the fields that they had on the Island, then taking care of a neighbor's kids. And as if that wasn't enough, some guy tried to mug her, which was thankfully prevented by a massive man with a gigantic sword.

But now she finally had time for herself. She had packed a bit of food and a bottle of wine, and put down a blanket on the beach, hoping to have a good, peaceful evening.

She was just putting the bottle to her lips, as she heard strange noises from a nearby cliff. She looked over at it and saw hamsters carrying out three unconscious girls, followed by two men, one of which was heavily armored, and a girl that looked like Red Riding Hood.

Mendi slowly out the flask down, and sighed. "I think this is not my day."

* * *

Caboose was standing inside Ghost's office, together with Bradford, the Commander, Jaune, Masterchief, and Pyrrha. Pyrrha stood before him, gently placing a hand on his chest, and began to glow a slight red. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

She stepped back, taking in big breaths of air. "Did it work?" Bradford asked.

"Y-Yes. It seems like Caboose has an Aura now." Pyrrha muttered.

"Also, I'm not so sure it will actually benefit him," Jaune added. "Aura takes a lot of concentration in the beginning. And it's, well, Caboose."

"I still wonder why we didn't reach Tucker," Bradford muttered. "I'm sure he would've been the better person to test this on."

"Maybe he's just out of reach?" Jaune suggested.

"I feel fuzzy," Caboose added.

"Unlikely. But he shouldn't be in danger. Now, how long until we can repeat the process with another soldier?" The Commander asked.

"Tommorrow," Pyrrha replied. "The process is terribly tiring."

"I still feel fuzzy. I'm afraid. I know, I'll just stay still so the monster won't catch me." Caboose muttered.

"I think it made his condition worse," Geist said, raising an eyebrow.

"He has a condition?" Jaune asked. "I just thought he wasn't too bright."

"I don't know. I just guessed."

Jaune felt something ringing in his pocket and pulled out one of the small communication devices Bradford gave to every designated leader, namely Jaune, Ruby, Kazuma, Masterchief, and Sarge. "Yes? Jaune here."

 _"Jaune? Great, here's Ruby. Listen, can someone come to the eastern beach and pick up some wounded?"_

"Wounded?" Bradford asked in shock. "How can there be wounded?"

 _"Well, there was this guy that was testing us... Though one of us knocked herself out."_

"Testing you?" Geist added. "Let me take a wild guess and say it was Tanaka?"

 _"Yeah, it was Gundham."_

"Ugh, we will send someone." The Commander replied. "Ruby, you and Gundham please come here. It looks like Geist wants to tell you something..." He looked at the Templar, who seemed to be shaking from anger.

Jaune shut off the communicator and turned towards Geist. "Is he the one that's supposed to help us out?"

"No, he's the guy that takes care of the animals on this Island," Geist replied. "Honestly, I would've thrown him out long ago, if he wasn't that good at what he does." He pressed a little button on his desk and spoke into a microphone. "Can you please tell Fischer to move to the Avenger?"

"Fischer?"

"He's the man I'm sending you. He's... an old colleague of mine. If there's anyone I can trust to do this job, then him."

* * *

Ruby walked through the wide hallways of Geist's mansion and eventually came to the big doors leading to his office. She opened them, and a good amount of heads turned towards her and Gundham. "Hey." She said.

"Gundham Tanaka. Is it true that you attacked some of XCOM's operatives?" Geist asked.

"I only tested their resolve, and I found them to be worthy," Gundham replied. "If you cannot understand that, then-"

"Then I'll just melt your brain. If that happens again, then you will not get away with a simple slap. Now go back to breeding cows or whatever you're currently working on."

"Very well. I shall see to it at once." He walked past Ruby and nodded.

She nodded back with a smile and looked back towards Geist. "Now... Why did you call me here?"

"I wanted to apologize personally for his behavior..."

"Don't worry," Ruby replied.

"Anyways. Fischer is already on the way to the Avenger. He should be starting to work in the Psi Lab soon."

"Is there anything else you wish to discuss?" The Commander asked.

"Nothing, no," Geist replied. He opened the box and pulled out one of the flash drives. "I think I will spend the rest of the day looking through these."

"Goodbye, Geist," Bradford said, and everyone left.

"He was creepy," Pyrrha muttered.

"That's Geist for you," Bradford replied.

* * *

 **And here's Chapter 8.**

 **Looks like the second Danganronpa character made his appearance. Gundham was a lot of fun to write, just like Geist. And I am happy to announce that Psi Abilities have finally made their first, big appearance.**

 **Now to replies:**

 **nphillips0115: Yes, she could use other skills. But it's Megumin, so it's nearly impossible to convince her to learn anything else.  
The unknown figure isn't a Chosen, that is true. Their identity will be revealed at one point though. (Obviously)**

 **Ellight7: It's one of the main mysteries of the first Arc of the story, alongside the tablet. So it won't be too long until it's revealed.**

 **bootlegwat: Thank you. Yes, Doomguy would be nice, but there's already one green supersoldier.**

 **Jack: Yang said 'goddammit' and Coco said 'damn'. Of course, they are only light swears, but they can still be counted. Also, not every character will swear. Ruby or Ren obviously wouldn't.**

 ** ** ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft************


	9. The Search

Chapter 9: The Search

Velvet was sitting inside the rec room of the Avenger, while the ship was still at Phobos. While she never had anything against the tropical weather, she preferred to stay inside the ship, in case anything would happen.

Sure, Advent didn't attack the last three Havens, but that was something that could change every second. And if it would, then she would rather be in the safety of an airship full of weapons than on vacation.

"Your turn," Yatsuhashi said.

Velvet took her pool cue and hit one of the balls. It bounced off the side, and into one of the corner holes. "Point for me."

"Do you guys even know how to play that?" Grif, who was sitting in an armchair, asked.

"You have to shoot the balls into the holes, right?" Velvet replied.

"It's not that easy."

"Do you know the rules?"

"Hell no, but I know that you have to do something with the order of which you hit them."

They heard a hiss, as the entrance to the rec room opened up. Zhang entered the room and looked around. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Sir!" Velvet replied.

"Kiss-Ass." Grif snorted and turned back toward his TV. Sadly, all the Avenger had in store was infinite re-runs of old Sitcoms and the movie reservoir dogs in five languages, but to him, it was better than nothing.

"As you may have heard, a new Operative has arrived here yesterday." Zhang started.

"You mean the Templar?" Yatsuhashi asked.

Zhang nodded. "He and I are currently introducing him to the crew. Fischer? Come in." The door opened again, and a man stepped in. He wore a long, yellow coat and a bulky, round helmet over his head. "This is our new Templar, Fischer. If anyone of you has a question about Psionics, you should ask him for advice."

"I would be glad to answer your questions," Fischer replied Though they couldn't see his face, the voice made it evident that he was somewhat older and probably smoked.

"is it true that you can read thoughts?" Grif asked.

"That is indeed true. Let me demonstrate." He looked at Velvet and tilted his head. "You're thinking about... carrots?"

Every head slowly turned towards the Faunus with a questioned look on their faces. Or helmet. Velvet's ears dropped down. "I'm hungry..."

"Anyways..." Fischer said. "I am happy to assist you in any way possible, regarding the matters of Psionics. If you need me, you will be able to find me in the Psionic Lab."

"We have one?" Grif asked.

"Had," Zhang corrected. "It was destroyed in the attack on the Avenger three years ago. The Aliens entered through the hangar, and the Psi Lab was one of the facilities closest to that area. They ravaged it, destroying everything beyond repair. We had to shut it down completely, in fear of any debris that might cause trouble or injuries."

"But luckily Geist send me here to change the Status quo on that matter. I will take a good look at the facility, assess the damage, and start to plan the best way to repair it."

"I can help." Velvet said. "I can take some pictures."

"That would be very useful. I wanted to ask the Photographer for that, but Mr. Zhang said that he was still trying to delete the immense gallery Mr. Donut created."

"Ugh." Grif groaned and shook as if a ghost had just touched him.

"I can try to get the heavy debris out of the way." Yatsuhashi proposed. "If that would be okay."

"Yes, no problem. I always appreciate help like that." He clapped his hands together and nodded. "Now then, can you come along?"

"Already?"

"You are the last ones here I wanted to visit."

Velvet looked at her partner and shrugged. "Sure."

"You're not gonna finish that game?" Grif asked.

All of the sudden, the balls rolled into the holes. "What?" Velvet asked.

"There. It's finished." Fischer replied.

"Dude, you can't do that," Grif muttered in shock. "Like, I've seen a lot of crazy and unbelievable shit in the last few days. But I'm not ready for telekinesis yet."

"Get used to it," Zhang said in a strict tone. Velvet, Yatsuhashi, and Fischer left, leaving the Colonel in the doorway. "From what I can gather, this new war is just going to get more... bizarre."

"As long as I have my TV and Food, I'm okay."

"That would be a problem," Zhang replied. "You were put into cleaning duty."

"You're not Sarge. Unless he gives me the order, I won't move a muscle. And even then, I probably won't."

"Move your sorry ass or you're going to go on the next mission with only a shirt and hotpants."

"And? I can easily avoid going on missions. I've done it for years."

"I will also throw all Oreos out of the window."

Suddenly, Grif shot up and saluted. "Sir, yes, Sir!"

"Now that's the spirit," Zhang muttered. He watched as Grif left, and smiled, knowing that they never had any Oreos in the first place.

* * *

"You got knocked out by hamsters?" Ren asked in disbelief, sitting in a small bar in the middle of Phobos.

He was with Yang, Nora, Kazuma, and Caboose, though the latter was more of a babysitting job. No one wanted to leave him unattended, now that he had Aura and possibly a Semblance.

Pyrrha had recovered from activating his Aura and was now trying to unlock Tucker's, for better or worse. If Yang remembered one thing from Elementary school, than that it could cause a lot of chaos if many people discovered their Semblance at the same time.

"Yeah, kinda," Yang replied, looking at the fluid in her glass. She had ordered a simple soda and still waited for her meal, grilled fish with some fruits. Luckily it was rather easy to please the member of Blue Team since the bar had dinosaur nuggets.

"You know that's kinda pathetic, right?" Nora asked, trying to hold back her laughter. "I mean, you're Yang Xiao-Long. I've seen you throw a bike."

"What?" Kazuma asked in disbelief. "A bike?"

"Humans from Remnant seem to be a bit stronger than those of Earth," Ren explained.

"I meant the why. Why would you just throw a bike?"

"Well, that guy parked it next to my precious Bumblebee and scratched the brand new paint job. You know how expensive that is?"

"I know. I had to repaint my armor." Caboose said.

"What? Was the old paint too old?" Ren asked.

"I labeled my body parts." Caboose explained. "I can never remember where left and right is. Or up and down. Church didn't like it."

"I... I can understand that." Kazuma muttered.

Nora looked at Caboose's bowl and noticed that half of his nuggets were already gone. "Wait, how in the world do you eat with that helmet on?"

As a response, Caboose pressed a small button, and a tiny hatch opened at the bottom of his golden visor.

"Huh. Never thought of that." Yang muttered. "So, any idea yet what your Semblance might be?"

"Semblance?"

"I don't think he can comprehend that concept," Ren said.

"Why are you so worried?" Kazuma asked, looking at Yang. "You were like that on the way here too."

"Well, I had some bad experiences as a child regarding Semblances," Yang explained. "One of my classmates in Elementary found his, and it drove him completely insane." She took a deep breath. "You know, even back on Remnant, there are people that think a power like that is great, but when fate deals you the wrong hand, then it can ruin your whole life."

"That is true," Ren added. "Semblances are different for every person, and we huntsmen are often able to use them in battles to aid us or others. Due to the glorification of it in media, it's often forgotten that Semblances can just as well hurt you and others, even if you don't want it."

"I was kinda excited about getting one up to now," Kazuma muttered. He looked back at Yang. "By the way, what is yours? You never told me."

"It's basically a berserk button. I built up power the lower my Aura gets, and then it all unloads at once, greatly amplifying my strength."

"Or someone has to damage her hair. That also triggers it." Nora added. "By the way, I can produce and channel electricity. Found it by being hit by lightning."

"And you?" He looked at Ren, who was currently getting his food, a simple soup, from the waitress.

He put the bowl in front of him and grabbed a spoon. "It's... hard to explain," Ren said, stirring his soup with his spoon. "I can mask emotions. It is very useful against the Creatures of Grimm, but I doubt it will be helpful in our current predicament."

"And how did you find it?"

"Intense stress," Nora replied in an unusually serious tone. Ren still stirred through his soup, and Yang noticed how Nora looked at him with a concerned expression.

"Touchy subject, huh?" Kazuma said, and turned back towards Yang. "I hope I won't have one that hurts me."

"I don't know if you even need one," Yang replied. "You and your friends mentioned that you had a lot of skills already." Yang's eyes shot wide open. A sign that she had a great idea. "Hey, how about a little match later?"

"Match?" The other three gasped. Caboose simply continued to eat his nuggets.

"Yeah. I have to stay in form, and those cardboard cut-outs won't do it. I need a real sparring match, and I'm kinda interested in what you can do."

"Could I survive that?" Kazuma whispered into Nora's ear.

"Maybe?"

He sighed. "You promise you won't hurt me too bad?"

"Don't worry. It's just sparring." The waitress came back, holding a plate full of tropical fruits and grilled fish. It was still smaller portion than what one would get back home, but it was definitely better than what was available at the Avenger. "But for now, I have to satisfy my tummy."

* * *

"Yeah, this place is beyond recognition." Velvet said as she entered the ruined Psi Lab. Debris scattered the room, mostly metal and glass shards. A faint purple mist was still hanging in the air, and coolant dropped out of a broken tank, creating a glistening puddle on the ground.

"Yes, this could take a while," Fischer added and walked up to the puddle. "Looks like the narcotics leaked out."

"Narcotics? Are they really necessary?"

"Psionics can cause damage to the brain or heavy pains." The Templar explained. "Narcotics are needed to keep patients in check during early stages of training. Mr. Daichi? Could you move that thing out of the way, please?" He pointed at what looked like a broken bed.

The giant walked up to it and pushed it to the side. "Here."

"Thank you." Fischer looked at a small object on the ground. It looked like a key of some sorts. "A broken Psi Amp. Replacing these will be expensive."

"What are they?" Velvet asked.

"Small gadgets used to focus Psionic Energy. XCOM Operatives used them to substitute for the immense training we Templars go through."

"By the way..." Velvet started, while taking pictures of the area. "With this... psionic stuff, can you see with it?"

"Yes, you can," Fischer replied while noting the damage on a GREMLIN. "But it requires some training. Why?"

"Do you think that Fox might find use in it?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Yeah."

"Fox was... the one with the scars, right?" The Templar asked. "He already said that he would have interest in Psionics."

"Doesn't surprise me." Velvet mentioned, "Fox was always interested in the nature of Aura. It'd surprise me if Psionics wouldn't spark his interest."

"I can take him on as an acolyte, as soon as we have this laboratory running." Fischer pushed a small object to the side. "Great. An old sandwich."

"Seriously?"

Fischer pulled out a small bone from a trash pile. "And I guess this is the guy it belonged to."

"They have a corpse in here?" Velvet gasped.

"No, just kidding." He threw the object at the wall, revealing it to be a simple piece of plastic.

"Ugh. Don't scare me like that."

"What are you numbnuts doing?" A gruff voice asked from the door.

"Sarge?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Yes, I am. Great observation."

"Uh, what do you want here?"

"I'm searching for Lopez. Did any of you see him?"

"Lopez?"

"Yeah, his robot... Son?"

"Yes, he is like a son to me," Sarge said, almost melancholically.

"That's disturbing," Fischer said and went back to work. "But no, I haven't seen him."

"Can I help him searching?" Velvet asked.

"Sure. Yatsuhashi? Can you please help me with putting all the debris in a corner?"

"Of course. Good luck you two."

"Thanks." Velvet said with a smile.

* * *

"Okay, those are the rules." Ren started, standing at the side of a small, empty area of the island. "This is a sparring match, so lethal force is not allowed. It will end once one of the opponents is either unconscious, unable to fight or gives up."

"Well, you ready?" Yang asked, stretching a bit to get ready.

"Of course."

"One thing before we start, you shouldn't go easy on me." Yang pointed out. "Is that okay?"

"Honestly, I never thought about going easy on you."

"Good to know."

"Three!" Ren said, a bit louder than usual. "Two! One! Begin!"

Yang immediately charged forward hoping to instantly land a hit on her opponent. She launched herself off the ground and aimed her fist at Kazuma's head. However, as soon as she came too close...

"Create Water!"

A splash of water hit her in the face. She lost her posture and landed on the ground. The blonde managed to roll off and land back on her feet. "Not bad."

"Thanks. Trust me, water is surprisingly helpful."

Yang didn't even try to deny that fact, especially considering that fire was kinda her thing. Still, it was just a small splash of water.

"Create Water!"

That got somewhat annoying. She stood up fully and started to run in a circle, trying to dodge his attacks. It went rather well, until...

"Freeze!"

All the water froze in an instant, turning the field into a slippery area. Yang had trouble standing up. Luckily, Weiss liked to freeze the battlefield too, so it was nothing new for her.

She pushed herself off the ground once again and turned around in the air. She punched the ground with all her might, turning the thin layer of ice into a cloud of ice particles, obstructing their view.

Yang quickly ran towards the position she expected Kazuma to be at and attacked. However, she only hit the air. "Dammit, he moved."

The girl realized her mistake, as she was unable to see anything too. Well, at least that's what she thought. Luckily, she wasn't the only one.

"Ouch!" A male voice yelled out. Yang grinned and ran towards where the voice came from. Her hit connected, sending Kazuma flying through the air and out of the ice cloud.

"And the winner is Yang Xiao-Long!" Ren stated. The ice cloud slowly dissipated, revealing her opponent on the ground, face dug into the dirt.

She grabbed him by the collar and lifted Kazuma up. He spat out dirt, and she let him drop to his feet.

"Ugh, crap."

"You're lucky that I held back. Otherwise, I might've punched your head off." Yang stated, grinning proudly.

Kazuma spat out even more dirt and dusted himself off. "I think my nose is broken..."

"Sorry. But good fight nonetheless." Yang said and looked at Ren. He, Caboose and Nora walked towards them.

"Maybe we can try this again once your Aura's unlocked," Yang added. "You got a good amount of attacks, and I can only attack in close quarters. At least until we find out how to enable the usage of Dust on Earth."

Suddenly, her communication device rang. Yang pulled it out of her pocket. "Yes? Yang here."

 _"Yang, listen. Can you and Caboose come to the bridge?"_ Weiss asked. He sounded like it was important.

"Okay, calm down. What's going on?"

 _"Bradford wants to talk to us. Something about that whole Psi-Ops stuff."_

"Fine." Yang shut off her comm. "I have the feeling there's a mission coming up."

"Bradford?"

"Weiss. But she relayed a message from Bradford to me. Caboose, come with me."

"Okay!"

Yang turned away and walked towards the Avenger, followed by Caboose. "Well, bye. See you later."

Thus, they left the other three alone, standing there in confusion. "Seriously, can someone call a medic? I can't feel my nose."

* * *

The door to the Shadow Chamber opened, despite getting stuck for a second. The inside was almost entirely empty, except for two scientists, led by Tygan. It looked like they were still working on deciphering the tablet.

"Have any of you eggheads seen Lopèz?" Sarge started,

The three people turned towards him and Velvet, who was still standing in the doorway. "No, I'm sorry," Tygan said.

"Okay, bye." Velvet replied, closing the door. "Man, we searched the whole ship." She looked at Sarge, who also seemed to be in thought. "Has this ever happened before? Lopèz doesn't seem like he'd just leave."

"Yes, it has happened."

The two started to walk down the hallway. "And why? I always took him as the loyal type."

"It was complicated. One of the bluetards died, and his Ghost possessed Lopèz. We only noticed 'cause Tucker started wiggling his switch, and I heroically fought a machine gun turret as a result."

Velvet stared at Sarge in disbelief. Either they had a weird life, or he was insane. Probably the latter though. And the last thing she wanted to know about was Tucker and his switch.

"And don't get me started on the time he blew up and was only a head. And an angry AI possessed our medic! Or-"

"Yeah, I got it." The Faunus led out a sigh. Talking to Sarge was tiring. Both looked back up, as heavy footsteps walked past them.

The Chief, his armor apparently just cleaned, walked past, towering over both. Velvet had to say, she admired him. In a way, he was what Huntsmen aspired to be: A hero responsible for saving millions of lives and bringing peace. At least if what Cortana said was true. However, it was obvious that he left something behind for that...

"Hey, Hulk." Sarge greeted. The Spartan only gave him a small glare, before continuing his way down the hallway. "Have you seen Lopèz?"

"No."

"But-"

 _"Is he missing?"_ Cortana replied, her voice coming from the Chief's helmet. The giant turned around, enabling Cortana to speak more clearly with them.

"Yeah, Sarge said he hasn't seen him since yesterday."

 _"I haven't seen him, sorry."_ The AI said.

"Okay then. Sorry to bother-"

 _"But I might be able to use the Avenger's scanning abilities to confirm his location."_

"I don't know... Is that even allowed?"

"Just do it," Sarge replied. "We have exhausted any other option."

 _"Just give me a second... There."_

"Did you find him?" Velvet asked. Those AI's really were efficient, just like the scanners of the Avenger.

 _"I did. He is... In the Engine Room?"_

"Darn it, the only place we haven't looked yet."

"Duh, it's locked. We can't get in there." Velvet replied.

 _"It should be possible for me to hack the door."_

"Is that allowed? I thought only the engineers were allowed to enter that area..."

"True, but we have no choice. Who knows why he is down there." Sarge said.

* * *

"Good that all of you could come this fast." Bradford said, looking over the five people in the bridge. Every operative he called came at a moment's notice, just as he liked it.

"So what's the mission?" Yang asked. He doubted that anyone was unsure what this was all about.

"I'd like our newest member to explain that. Fischer?"

"Of course. As you all know, I have been called here to take care of the Psi-Ops program. I finished my assessment in the old laboratory, thanks to the help of Mister Daichi." He gestured towards the swordmaster, who was standing amongst the operatives that had been called here.

"While we will be able to repair most of it, there is one object missing." The picture of a purple orb appeared on a screen behind them. "This is a Psionic Crystal. It is pure Psionic Energy, captured in a round Elerium Crystal."

"And it is incredibly rare," Bradford added. "The only reason we had one was that we found it on the Avenger when we took her from the Elders. And, maybe thanks to that, they stopped employing them on their new ships."

"That's true. We haven't found them in a long time. But that doesn't mean they aren't used anymore." Fischer continued. The picture on the screen changed of some sort of pillar. "This structure is a psionic relay. As you know, Advent is kept in check with a psionic network. But even they aren't strong enough to keep it up over an entire planet, much less all the places they have conquered."

"Those are used to widen their reach, like a network of data needs transmitters over a long distance. And as a catalyst, they still use Psionic Crystals. If we can fetch one, we will be able to re-built our Psi-Lab, and deal a good blow to their reach in the area too."

"And where is that relay?" Weiss asked.

The screen showed a map of the Earth, highlighting a small area on the west coast of North-America. "New-California. There is only one problem: It is strongly defended."

"That's true. We think that Advent would mostly employ psionic troops in the area. That's why we specifically chose you for this mission."

"Because we are awesome?" Aqua asked.

"No, because we think you will be either resistant to their effects, or you won't pose a problem if they were to mind-control you."

"Then I can definitely understand why you chose Caboose and Aqua," Weiss replied. "Why me and Yang and Yatsu though?"

"We thought that you three have strong enough will. Anyways, I believe you all understand your objective? Go in, take the Psionic Crystal, destroy the relay, and come back alive."

"And since we don't want to send you on this high-priority mission alone, I will accompany you," Fischer added. "Maybe I can even get some of you to consider training with psionic energy."

"Now that that is taken care of, please go to the hangar immediately," Bradford commanded. "We have no time to lose."

* * *

"How much longer...?" Velvet asked. She had to admit, she was slowly getting impatient, just like the Chief. The search for Lopèz had been going on long enough.

 _"Just one more second... there."_

The door opened, though a bit clunky, giving way into the machine room. Giant machines, completely Alien to Velvet, and seemingly the others as well, stood everywhere. Giant tanks containing coolant and other fluids stood up to the incredibly high ceiling and gave off a strange, green glow.

"This is kinda creepy." Velvet muttered in awe.

"This room has to reach through the entire back of the ship..." The Masterchief added.

"But where's Lopèz?" Sarge added. "Lopèz? Can you hear me?"

They waited, but no answer came. "Huh. Maybe he's not here after all?" Velvet guessed. She scratched her arm, as she felt it tickling.

"I just have to lure him here," Sarge said, still determined. "Lopèz! I've got tacos! The ones that taste like motor oil!"

"I don't think-"

"Bueno el Taco!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" A male voice yelled out. They looked to their right and saw someone approaching. He wore a yellow hazmat suit. "You're not allowed to go down here!"

"We're searching for Lopèz, dirtbag. Have you seen him? Mexican Robot."

"Wait, I thought he was Spanish?" Velvet asked.

"Doesn't matter. Both countries are in Asia anyways."

At that, a silence fell over the room. _"What?"_

"What?"

"What?"

"Have you seen him? Answer me, or I swear to God..." Sarge growled and cocked his Shotgun.

"Yes, I have seen him. He's helping us out down here." The Engineer explained. His eyes fell on Velvet, and he quickly ran towards her. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Velvet asked.

"You have to get out of here now! I'm gonna call a medic!"

"Why? What's going on?" Velvet cried.

"Radiation! This is basically a nuclear plant!" He yelled. "Chief? Can you get her out of here?"

"Affirmative." Thus, the Masterchief picked up Velvet and quickly carried her out of the engine room. He put her down, gently leaning her against the wall. "Are you okay?"

"It's itching everywhere." Velvet said through gritted teeth.

"Here, that should help." The Masterchief pulled out a small syringe from his armor and put it into Velvet's arm. She cringed as the fluid entered her body, and filled her veins.

"What was that?"

 _"A special medicine. The UNSC developed it in case a breach in a ship would cause a radiation leak. Every Spartan is outfitted with one."_

"Thanks..." Velvet said. The itching slowly stopped.

They looked towards the door, as the Engineer came out, followed by Sarge. "The medic will be here any minute." He turned towards Sarge. "And now to you, Sergeant-"

"Captain."

"I don't give a fuck! I can't believe someone as irresponsible as you even led a small army!"

"I-"

"Shut. Up. You brought this girl into a highly radiated, off-limits area, dragged our best operative into this mess. And for what?"

"'Cuz I needed Lopèz!"

"And for what? What did you need him so desperately for?"

"For the Netflix in his armor," Sarge replied. Everyone stared at him in shock.

"WHAT?" The Engineer yelled. "Chief? Can you knock this retard out?"

"Sure." The Cheif replied. Even he sounded tired of Sarge.

"Stay back, or I-" A second later, the butt of the Chief's Assault Rifle hit Sarge's visor. It knocked him out in one hit and even threw him into the wall. "Ow, the front of my face!"

"Is he out?"

"Yes, he is." The Engineer muttered. "Listen, I already informed Bradford. Sarge will get his punishment. I'm going to make sure the two of you don't get into any trouble thanks to this."

"Thank you." Velvet said.

"No problem. I have to excuse myself, but there's still something that needs my assistance. We have to check the engines before we lift off." He re-entered the engine room, leaving Velvet and the Chief alone.

"Won't you say anything about hacking that door?" Velvet asked.

 _"No thanks,"_ Cortana replied. _"I was dragged into this just like you."_

"Ugh, fair enough."

They heard heavy boots coming around the corner and noticed Grif, who was actually cleaning up. "Man, what I do for my Or-" He stopped, as he saw the scene in front of him. "I don't even wanna know."

* * *

 **And here's Chapter 9.**

 **This is, obviously, another quieter Chapter. However, next Chapter will be more action-oriented and contain a lot of psionics.**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Ellight1: Yep, that notification is always great, no matter on which site it is.**

 **Jack: Well, I don't think it's out of character. However, I think it's no use discussing this topic any further.**

 ** ** ** ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft**************


	10. The Relay

Chapter 10: The Relay

Firebrand shook heavily, as it flew over the Pacific ocean. Or at least a small part of it. The Avenger itself had set down on a small, rocky peninsula, shortening travel time.

The typical holographic screen popped up, showing Bradford. "Sorry for the delay. There has been a problem in the Engine Room I had to take care off. All of you still remember the mission?"

"Destroy the relay, take the Crystal," Yang said. She had equipped herself with a Shotgun to compensate for the lack of her normal weapons, as well as a proximity mine.

"Good. And remember, you'll mostly be dealing with Psionic Enemies here. So try to keep your will up."

"Having a strong will is always important," Yatsuhashi added. He was carrying a heavy machinegun, in addition to his sword. "Of course, now more than ever."

"I don't think we have to worry about Caboose though. There's probably not much to control." Weiss stated, looking at the Blue soldier. She was using Myrtenaster, in addition to a normal Assault Rifle.

"Can the crystal tell our fortune?" Caboose asked, proving Weiss' point. He was using his normal Assault Rifle, despite everyone's complaints. At least they managed to give him a Flashbang Grenade.

"It can't. At least I think so..." Aqua added. She was also using an Assault Rifle and two incendiary grenades, in addition to her staff.

"There probably isn't much to control with you either..." Weiss added with a sigh. "I'd honestly be surprised if they wouldn't get some sort of feedback damage with you and Caboose."

"Well, there have been cases of Psionics causing harm because the target had... mental problems," Fischer replied. He was carrying the standard Templar equipment, consisting of an SMG and a fragmentation grenade.

"We're inbound on our target," Bradford stated. "We'll set you down between some trees. Try to stay in concealment as long as possible."

"Okay everyone, get ready," Yang said. They felt how the thrusters slowly came to a halt, and the hangar bay opened, flooding the ship with the bright sunlight of dawn. From the looks of it, they were at the base of a mountain, covered in trees.

"Where's the target?" Weiss asked.

"Five hundred meters up west, on the mountain," Fischer replied. "Stay in cover. There are probably scouting parties in the area."

"Wait, if they are Psionic enemies, can't they, like, smell our thoughts or somethin'?" Yang asked.

"Then I just have to not think about anything." Caboose replied.

"That... shouldn't be too hard for you. Or Aqua." Weiss said. "If we get attacked, then I'll try to get some glyphs up. I doubt these bushes will give us much cover."

"Good idea."

They continued through the forest, until Fischer held one of his arms out, stopping them. He pointed up the hill, at a building on a flat plateau on the side of the mountain.

Moonlight and early sunlight reflected off the black, smooth Advent alloy, with a few red lights shining through the darkness.

"So that's it, huh?" Aqua muttered. "You know, I expected some sorta castle."

"This is Advent, not some fantasy crap," Weiss replied.

"Yeah. If anything, they're sci-fi." Yang added. "How are we going to get up there?"

"There should be a road leading up. Advent still has to get supplies to their base, and I'd say using Airships would draw too much attention."

"So what? We put on uniforms and play deliverers?" Weiss asked, half-joking.

"I can't do that." Caboose replied. "I'm a method actor."

"No, we will take position in the mountains," Fischer explained, while they slowly made their way up the mountain, eventually leading to the gate, which was guarded by two soldiers. He looked at Weiss. "How much range do you have?"

"Uhm, well... quite a bit. Oh, I get it. I'm supposed to silently take down the guards, right?"

"Precisely. The trees up there should give you a good position." He pointed at a line of trees up on a cliff, small enough to climb up without much effort.

Thus, she climbed up the short slope and got in position. Her crosshair was pointed at one of the guards. She slowly kneeled down, putting the front of the weapon on a stone, so that her other hand was free to summon a glyph if needed.

Weiss waited until the others were in position, and saw Fischer gesturing her to take the first shot. She pulled the trigger, putting holes into the head of the first guard.

The second one quickly threw his weapon around, shooting at Weiss. She summoned a glyph, blocking most of the shots, while the others set the bushes around her on fire. They stopped as Yang snuck up behind him, and snapped his neck.

"Well done." Fischer complimented, as Weiss walked back up to the group.

They opened the gate, and went into the courtyard, taking cover behind a few supply crates. Shots came in from the building, and they returned fire as good as possible.

"Weiss! Caboose! Cover me!" Fischer yelled and ran out towards one of the Advent soldiers that took cover behind a forklift.

"Okay!" Caboose replied, shooting at the Templar.

"Goddammit!" Weiss yelled, and blocked his bullets with a glyph, before continuing to shoot at the enemies.

It only took four seconds for Fischer to reach the enemy forces. They watched in awe, as twin blades, made out of pure psionic energy, came out of his wrists. He cut down the first soldier, and blocked shots of a second one by turning the swords into a shield.

"Holy crap. That was awesome!" Aqua yelled.

"Save that for later. There are still two more left." Weiss replied, and looked at Yatsuhashi. "Yatsu?"

"Yes?"

"Listen, can I shoot you forward with a glyph?"

"Sure."

Weiss nodded and created a glyph behind the swordsman. A few milliseconds later, and she slingshotted him at the enemies. He held his sword up and sliced through one of them. The last Soldier was confused by the sudden attack so that Weiss could easily shoot him.

"Courtyard clear!"Aqua yelled.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," Yang said.

They all ran up to the entrance door and hid at the sides, their weapons aimed at the doorway. Except for Caboose. He was aiming at the tip of the relay tower. Fischer held three fingers into the air, slowly counting down. At zero, he opened the door.

All of them tensed up, ready to fire at a moments notice. However, nothing came out. Thus, hey went inside.

The interior was, as it was the standard for Advent buildings, kept in black, with occasional red lights breaking the darkness. A hallway led deeper into the complex, with multiple doors going off into side rooms.

"What now? We don't have any cover." Yang replied.

"Yes. Crap. Okay, let's try open some of these doors. Maybe we can use the rooms somehow." Fischer commanded.

Weiss and Yang nodded, walking up to the first door. Suddenly, they felt something enveloping them and looked back at the group. Aqua waved at them. "I gave you a little damage boost."

The huntresses nodded approvingly and opened the door. Behind it was a small office. A single officer was inside, keeping an eye out.

Yang quickly walked up to him, and put the soldier into a chokehold, before choking him to death. "Well done," Weiss said. "Didn't know you could be that sneaky."

"I have my moments of schneekines."

Weiss threw her a death glare. "And you ruined it. Why is there no one else in here though?"

"Well, it's still early in the morning. They probably haven't shown up to work yet." Yang replied. She looked into the hallway, gesturing to her allies that the room was secured. They quickly rushed inside, always keeping an eye on the door.

"Good job," Fischer said. "It's weird though. There's not really much resistance in here..."

"Someone's coming," Aqua stated, quickly pulling herself back into the room, as shots erupted outside.

They went into cover behind the desk, and Yang threw over a locker, creating a bit more cover. A few Soldiers took position outside, taking potshots inside.

Fischer pulled out the pin of his Grenade and rolled it into the doorway. A fireball engulfed it, scorching the metal walls. The pained screams of dying soldiers came from outside.

"You know, those things are surprisingly... surprisingly..." Yang tried to say something, as her eyes got glassy. A second later, she threw up, directly into a small plant.

"Yang? Are you okay?" Weiss asked, walking up to her friend.

"Weiss..."

"Yes?"

"Die."

"Huh?" Weiss jumped back in surprise, as Yang lunged around, trying to hit her with an uppercut. "Yang, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Dammit, I think a Priest is mind-controlling her. Hold Miss. Xiao Long off. Mr. Daichi? We'll deal with the Priest."

Yatsuhashi nodded and followed Fischer towards the doorway.

Weiss gracefully dodged another punch and blocked the third one with a glyph. "Yang, get a hold of yourself!"

"Just die, dammit!" Yang screamed and destroyed the glyph. She hit Weiss in her guts, sending the heiress flying across the room, and into the desk. "Now I can finally-" She stopped, as something was wrapped around her throat. Yang looked behind herself and saw Aqua, who used her staff to get a hold of Yang.

"Stop it!"

"Fuck off!" Yang threw Aqua towards Weiss effortlessly.

"Crap!" Weiss grunted, shoving Aqua off herself. "Caboose! We need your help!"

"Okay. I like to help."

"Yeah, yeah. Can you knock Yang out?"

Caboose looked at the blonde, who was walking toward the two girls, her Shotgun ready to fire. "I don't want to fight the scary dragon lady."

"No, just throw your Flashbang!"

"Flashbang?" Caboose asked.

"Gods dammit!" Weiss yelled and stood up. She created a glyph in the air, launching herself towards the blue soldier. She grabbed the grenade from his belt, and looked at Aqua. "Close your eyes!" She pulled the pin and threw it. A second later, a bright flash of light enveloped the room, and Yang stumbled backward.

Weiss threw herself onto the blonde, trying to pin her down. Yang shook her head and looked at Weiss in confusion. "What happened?"

"One of those Advent freaks mind-controlled you," Weiss replied. "But it looks like the Flashbang Grenade snapped you out of it."

The door broke, and their heads shot towards it. The Advent Priest, wearing a bulky, white armor, fell into the room, almost cut in half. Yatsuhashi and Fischer stood behind the door, wiping the orange blood off their swords. Both of them stopped, as they looked at the two girls.

"What are you two doing?" Fischer asked.

Weiss looked down and realized that she was still on top of Yang. She quickly jumped up. "It's not what it looks like!"

"Right, Ice-Queen. You don't have to be so cold." Yang replied with a smug grin.

Weiss stood up and dusted herself off. "Are there any other enemies in the corridor?"

"No. We should go now before reinforcements show up." Fischer explained.

They followed him down the hallway and eventually arrived at a big door. Two Advent Priests stood guard, with the help of a lone Sectoid.

"Okay, we need a plan," Weiss muttered.

"Do you still have your mine?" Yatsuhashi asked, looking at Yang.

"Yeah. You want me to throw it?"

"I think it would work. We could get rid of all three enemies, and open the door along with it."

"Good idea. Yang, do it."

"Wait a sec." Aqua interrupted. "What if there are any enemies behind the door?"

"Then we have a smokescreen from the explosion," Fischer replied. "Now."

The blonde nodded and pulled out the mine. She pressed a small button on top, and turned it, activating the mine. It landed between both soldiers, without them noticing.

"And now?" Caboose asked.

"Just wait for a seco-" The Templar was interrupted, as the mine exploded. A large fireball engulfed the three enemies, and the torn up body of the Sectoid flew past them, crashing into a wall.

"That was effective," Weiss muttered. "Are they gone?"

"Wait..." Fischer muttered. He put his hand to his forehead. "I can still sense the two priests. They went into stasis."

"Stasis?" Caboose asked. "Is it already naptime?"

"Priests have the annoying tendency to go into a stasis if they sustain enough damage. Once that happens, we can't do anything to them. Luckily, they can't do anything either."

"So what now?"

"We lay them a trap. Aqua? You packed some equipment, right?" Weiss asked.

"Uhm, wait..." She looked through her pockets and pulled out a red grenade. "You told me to pack this thing."

"Perfect. Throw it between them."

"Uh, okay..." She threw the grenade, and it landed between the two priests. The smoke had dispersed a bit, giving them a good view of the two enemies. They were hovering inside two purple balls.

"You did pull the pin, right?" Weiss asked.

"There's a pin?" Aqua replied.

Weiss slapped her hand against her forehead. "You're useless."

"Actually, she's right. Those don't have a pin." Fischer added. The grenade exploded, covering the area in a burning gel. A few seconds later, the bubbles disappeared, dropping both priests directly into the fire. Their screams filled the hallways, as they slowly burned to death.

Weiss had to admit, the screams sent a shiver down her spine. Besides them being enemies, those things were still sentient. And burning them alive was definitely one of the cruelest deaths they could get.

"Woohoo! I got two kills!" Aqua yelled. "I'm awe-" She was interrupted, as something scrapped her shoulder. Blood flew into the air, as the green plasma hit the wall.

"Sectoid!" Fischer yelled and opened fire with his SMG. "Dammit, we should've checked those rooms!"

They quickly dove around the corner, opening themselves to the now ripped open door. "Caboose!" Weiss yelled.

"Yes?"

"Can you-" Weiss stopped, as the gurgling sounds of a Sectoid echoed through the hallway. She peeked around the corner and saw the Alien holding its head in pain. A stream of purple energy came from it, directly leading to Caboose.

Orange blood shot out of the Sectoid's head, and it never moved again.

"What the hell just happened?" Weiss asked speechlessly.

"I think... It tried to control Caboose..." Yatsuhashi muttered in disbelief. "And... That killed it..."

"Holy shit," Fischer added, just as speechless. "I mean, I knew this kind of feedback damage is possible but to such a degree? I think it literally melted its brain."

"Aqua? Are you okay?" Yang asked, looking at the healer.

Aqua held her wound, and blood came out between her fingers. "Yeah." Her hand began to glow, healing the wound. "Don't worry."

"Okay... Miss. Schnee, you and I will go into that room. You others, stay here and keep our back."

Yang nodded. "Okay. Good luck you two."

Fischer and Weiss slowly walked towards the door, and Fischer put his finger to his forehead again. "I can't detect anyone inside. Looks like we really hit them during a good time."

"Then let's go inside," Weiss replied. She stepped in, and her jaw dropped in awe. Purple energy came from pipes in the wall, going into a gigantic maelstrom in the middle of the room. It was contained by a tube of glass.

"This is pure psionic energy," Fischer muttered and held out his arms. "Amazing! Look at it! All the power the Elders are ripping from us. From the rightful owners!"

"Okay, calm down. I know this is your religion or something, but we still have a crystal to recover. Where is it?"

"It's inside the psionic maelstrom." The Templar explained.

"Then let's break the glass and-"

"No. The energy would lash out uncontrollably. Psionic energy might be potent, but it's dangerous if no one is there to control it. We would probably all be ripped apart by it, along with the relay. No, we have to shut down the Maelstrom first."

"How?"

"There should be controls nearby. After all, Advent has to make repairs from time to time."

Weiss nodded and started looking around the room. The terminals weren't hard to find. Afterall, they consisted of pretty big screens, with a keyboard in front of them. "They really didn't clean up in here for a long time," Weiss muttered, looking at two piles of black metal that laid around next to the terminal.

She laid her fingers on the keyboard and saw how the terminal wanted a password. "Great. We could use a GREM-" She stopped, as she felt something sliding around between her legs. "Uhm..." Suddenly, some sort of worm shot upwards, and she managed to dodge just in time. The worm turned around in the air and slid between some machines. "What the?"

"What happened?" Fischer asked.

"Some kinda worm attacked me."

"Worm?"

"Yeah, like... Like that one!" Weiss yelled, pointing at another worm sliding around. And then another one. Soon, a couple dozen worms moved around, all going towards the piles of metal.

The metal moved around, slowly turning into two humanoid forms, as more and more worms went into the armor. Both creatures were massive, towering over the two operatives at a height of more than three meters.

Their left arm was equipped with a massive shield, while the other one mounted a giant cannon. Spikes came out of their back armor.

Both enemies led out a guttural roar and banged their cannons against their shields.

"What are those things?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know! I've never seen such monsters!" Fischer replied. He activated his psionic swords, and duck behind some cover.

The giants aimed their cannons at them, and the Advent logo on the shields started to glow. A second later, a barrage of green plasma came out of the weapons, scorching and melting the wall behind them. Weiss quickly put up a glyph, blocking some of the shots.

She literally felt how the impact of the shots drained her Aura as they bit away on the glyphs. "CABOOSE! YANG! AQUA! YATSUHASHI! WE NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!" She yelled into the hallway.

Yang instantly came running, followed immediately by Yatsuhashi. They both stopped in shock at the sight of the new enemy.

"Don't just stand there. Fight!" Weiss yelled.

Yang nodded in agreement and shot one of the behemoths with her Shotgun. The shells immediately stopped as they made contact with the armor, only managing to bring the hunters attention towards the blonde.

Weiss, however, used the chance and fired her Assault Rifle. The bullets bounced off the creature's armor, flying through the room. "Dammit!"

She saw how Fischer ran out of his cover, his blades extended. He jumped onto the back of one of the monsters, using the spikes to stay on top. The worm colony tried to shake him off, as he tried to stab into it's back. However, even his blades didn't seem to do anything.

"Those things got some heavy armor," Yang said, reloading her shotgun.

"Oh, look. Hunters!" Caboose, who finally came into the room alongside Aqua, said.

"Caboose? You know them?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. They tried to kill us all. Fun times." He replied.

"Caboose!" Aqua yelled, tackling the trooper to the ground. Green plasma flew over their heads, blowing out a huge chunk of the wall above them. The molten metal dropped down next to them.

"Aqua?" Weiss asked, rolling next to them. She summoned a glyph as cover. "What about our back?"

"Don't worry. I put up a magic barrier."

"Uhm, okay. I hope that's enough." The glyph shattered under the heavy fire, and the three jumped behind a few supply crates, as Yang and Yatsuhashi tried to go in close. "Caboose? Where can we hit them?"

"They don't look hard to miss," Aqua muttered.

"Their armor's damn tough. Our bullets are simply bouncing off. So, Caboose?"

"Let me think. Hunters. Worms. Worms. Plasma. Bad. Big. Scary..."

"I think he broke," Aqua replied. They heard something exploding above them and noticed Yang, who crashed into the wall. She fell down, spitting blood.

"That thing got me good. Almost knocked out my entire Aura." Yang muttered.

"Come here, I'll heal you," Aqua replied.

"No need. That's where I get going!" Yang stood up and punched her fists together. Her eyes turned from lilac to red, and her hair caught on fire. "Come here, you oversized fishbait!"

"Caboose? Did you remember."

"Something about their backs..." He muttered. "Or were that lawyers?"

Weiss and Aqua looked at each other. "I think that's as close as we can get."

"Agreed." Weiss looked over their cover and put her hands to her mouth. "Guys! Caboose mentioned something about their backs!"

Fischer climbed down a bit and nodded. "Yes! Their back is exposed!" Weiss saw how he tried to stab in, but one worm shot out, biting into his shoulder. It threw him off the Hunter, and onto the ground.

"Ugh. Caboose, stay back. I'm gonna help him." Weiss replied, and drew Myrtenaster. She summoned a few glyphs, marking a path from her to the Hunter. She pointed Myrtenaster's tip at the Alien and shot towards him. The Hunter turned away from Fischer and got ready to block her attack.

Thus, Weiss created a few glyphs in the air and started to bounce around the Hunter. It tried to hit her, shattering some of the glyphs in the process.

Fischer cut the worm that held him down in two and ran back towards the Hunter. He rammed his swords into it's exposed back, and the Hunter froze. "Got you. Now hold-" He was thrown back, as two worms shot out again, trying to get him away from their colony.

However, that was its death sentence. Weiss used the confusion to create a glyph under the Hunter, which quickly turned into a giant clock. The time around the Hunter slowed down, as she ran around it, and repeatedly stabbed into it's back.

More and more worms died, and the monster fell down lifeless. The few surviving worms tried to escape, but Aqua came in, shooting them with her Rifle.

Weiss, however, turned towards the other Hunter. It was still engaging Yang and Yatsuhashi and put up a good fight. Its head looked at Weiss, and the monster let out a roar of pure anger. It swatted Yang away, throwing her into a wall again, and knocking her out.

Yatsuhashi managed to block one swing of the shield. "Now!"

Weiss looked at Aqua. "You still got your second Grenade?"

Aqua nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Listen, I'm gonna slingshot you into that thing, and you'll stick that grenade into its back."

"Oh, hell no." She replied, aiming her gun at Weiss in self-defense. "You're not gonna throw in there. Uh, uh."

Weiss sighed. "Fine. Then give me that dumb grenade. Can you, like-" Weiss was unable to finish her sentence, as a massive shield slammed into her back. She felt her Aura breaking, as she soared through the air.

Weiss crashed into one of the cables and felt how metal pieces were digging into her. She gritted her teeth and dropped down. It looked like the Hunter had thrown Yatsuhashi away too, and was currently trying to take out Aqua. Yang was unconscious and still stuck in the wall. Fischer was still trying to get the two worms off of him. That meant there was only one who could save them now.

"Caboose!" She tried to yell, as blood filled her mouth. Something definitely broke in there.

"Yes, Ice Queen?"

She ignored the nickname and tried to rob towards him. "Listen, we have to take out that Hunter fast, or we're all dead. Can you do something?"

"I can try to get angry." He replied.

"Ugh, try it." It wasn't like they had any other choice.

"Kittens... Kittens covered in spikes..." Caboose muttered, clearly concentrating on the words.

Weiss slowly felt her Aura coming back, though it cracked again as it tried to heal her wounds. She looked over to Aqua, who was surprisingly good at dodging the swings of the Hunter. Then again, she was glowing, meaning that she probably used a spell to boost her reflexes.

Suddenly, Caboose yelled next to her and ran at the Hunter. Sadly, the Alien wasn't having it and swatted the soldier aside effortlessly. He flew into the terminal, getting his head stuck inside with his body dangling down.

Weiss sighed in defeat. The Hunter managed to make Aqua lose her balance, and cause her fall down. He aimed his cannon at her and got ready to fire.

The heiress took all her strength and crawled towards the dead Hunter. If she was lucky, her plan would work. "Aqua!"

"Yeah?" The healer turned towards her, dodging the heavy shot of the cannon. It blew a massive hole into one of the walls.

"Can you use a healing spell on me? And something that amplifies strength?"

"I can try." Aqua's hands started glowing a light blue, as a magic circle appeared under Weiss. She felt how the flesh of her wounds slowly closed, which was enough pain in itself. At the same time, she felt how her muscles got denser. Now she had to act fast.

Weiss jumped up and charged towards the corpse. She put her hands on the cannon and tried to hold it up. Even with the buff, it felt incredibly heavy. She aimed it at the Hunter, which was still trying to kill Aqua. Even she was finally out of breath and was just about to be hit, as Weiss pulled what she supposed to be the trigger.

A massive plasma shot escaped the front of the gun, the recoil throwing Weiss backward into the terminal. The gun followed her and landed on her. It wasn't stuck though, and fell down, falling directly onto her legs. She felt her bones crumble and screamed in pain.

She gritted her teeth and looked at the enemy through watery eyes. The shot blew right through the Hunter, leaving a gaping hole. The monstrosity collapsed, just as she passed out.

* * *

The Avenger kept its position above the small peninsula. It was a foggy day, so they were somewhat hidden from Advent. However, that didn't mean that the crew was resting. Rather, most of them were busy on the bridge.

It had been ten minutes since the connection to the Team broke up, and the engineers worked desperately on getting it up and running again.

"Try to point the antenna at the relay," Bradford commanded. "We need to re-establish contact at all costs!"

"Still no connection," Shen answered. "Just static."

"I heard something went wrong?" Ruby asked as she barged into the bridge. "Is Yang okay? And Weiss?"

"We lost contact a few minutes ago," Bradford explained. "Just as they entered the room directly under the relay. We think it's scrambling our transmissions."

"Is there any way I can help?"

"Well-"

"Something's happening!" Shen yelled, sticking her head out of an opened panel under one of the communication machines. "We are receiving a call!"

"Bring it on the main screen!" The Commander said.

The big screen on one of the terminals came to life and showed Fischer. His shoulders looked like something had dug into them, and shredded his sleeves, as well as the flesh beneath. Behind him were a giant, empty tube and the remains of a battlefield. Aqua and Caboose were running around, and the girl was constantly kneeling down next to two people that laid on the ground.

"Commander? Can you hear me?"

"Yes. Loud and clear. What happened in there?"

"Something big attacked us. Miss Schnee saved us, but she and Miss Xiao-Long got heavily injured. Mr. Daichi is awake and is trying to secure the entrances. We managed to retrieve the crystal, and are requesting immediate evac!"

The Commander nodded. "Rhodes? Inform Firebrand!" The communications officer nodded and started to type around on his keyboard.

"Are Weiss and Yang alive?" Ruby asked in shock.

"Miss. Aqua says they're stable. I can detect signs from their brains, so they're at least not braindead. But we can't heal them fully now. They need to go into the medbay ASAP."

"Isn't Aqua a healer? She's always talking about it." Shen asked.

"True!" Aqua said, shoving herself into the picture. "But something's blocking my Mana. It's either the psionic stuff in here or radiation coming from this thing." She gestured to a pile of metal on the ground, with orange, scorched creatures amongst the wreckage. "I also used up a lot of it during the fight."

"Is that what attacked you?" The Commander asked.

Fischer nodded. "I've never seen something like this. But apparently, Mr. Caboose, of all people, has. We'll try to bring back as much as possible for further study."

"Commander!" One of the people operating the scanners interrupted. "You should see this! We're picking up multiple Advent reports. Apparently, some of their Soldiers and Aliens started to fight each other in the area!"

"What?"

"Their network is broken," Bradford stated a satisfied grin on his face. "Fischer, help's on the way."

"Affirmative. We'll keep our ground here." The Templar replied and shut off the transmission.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, still worried about her friends.

"Advent has all their soldiers connected via a Psionic Network. With the crystal, and thus the relay, broken, their control in the area has started to dwindle. Some of their Soldiers aren't under their control anymore."

"Shen?" The Commander asked. "Try to contact Betos. I'm sure she'll appreciate the new help."

"Of course."

"Betos?" Ruby asked.

"Nothing. For now, we have to get our crystal back." Bradford walked over to the hologlobe. Multiple red dots appeared over the west coast of North America, indicating fights breaking out. "It will take Advent some time to recover from that. Maybe we can manage to take back New California."

"Or at least built up a presence." The Commander added. "But for now-"

Suddenly, all the systems on the bridge shut down, and the whole ship started shaking. "Power's down across the board!" Shen, who quickly ran to a terminal, yelled. "Something hit us!"

"How can that be?" The

 _"Commander..."_ One of the screens jumped back on and showed some sort of creature. It was heavily distorted, making it impossible to find out what it was. _"You and your precious XCOM have brought us quite a lot of trouble over the last few weeks..."_

"Shen! Find out where that transmission is coming from!"

 _"But now, your new found courage will be your end. Prepare to send out your best, and see them fall in battle. The Elders won't forgive me if I lose control of New California."_

"We're losing altitude!" One of the engineers said.

Everyone fell to the ground, as the Avenger crashed. Bradford and the Commander were the first to get back up. "Everyone! Send out Operatives to defend us! Ruby, get out there! You, Zhang and Jaune will lead the defense!"

"Of course," Ruby said with concern on her face and used her Semblance to speed out of the room.

"Commander!" One of the engineers said. "We have multiple contacts inbound. Dropships!"

"Dammit. Get the defense Matrix ready. Shen, try to get us back up. We can't allow Advent to overrun us again!"

"Got it." She ran off, leaving Bradford and the Commander alone on the bridge.

"Do you think we can defend ourselves?" The Commander asked, looking at Bradford.

"I hope so." He replied, looking at the globe. It showed multiple contacts coming towards them

* * *

 **And Chapter 10 is here.**

 **Well, this is officially the first appearance of an enemy from one of the other franchises. For those that don't know, Hunter's are from the Halo Series. I tried to make them more like they are in the Lore than in gameplay: Walking death tanks. Seriously, those things are scary in the books.  
**

 **Obviously, they won't stay the only enemies that are deployed by the Elders.  
**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Ellight1: Thanks.**

 **ThatTallGuy: It wasn't the reactor, it was the engine room. The reactor itself is located in Tygan's lab. The engine room is the location of the drive, propulsion systems and so on. While Elerium is the main source of power for the Avenger, the drive is using a mix of nuclear and kinetic energy to keep the Avenger in the air. That was originally supposed to be explained later, but here it is a bit earlier.**

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft****************


	11. The Defense

Chapter 11: The Defense

"You know... I expected them to be here already." Blake said, ducking behind one of the barriers they put up in front of the Avenger's hangar bay. "After what you said."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," Ruby replied. "Maybe their infighting is keeping them occupied?" She looked around, trying to take in who was here with her. They were only able to get out a few Operatives right now since the others had to get ready first.

There was, of course, herself and Blake. Then there was Jaune, Simmons, Grif, Zhang, Velvet, and Tucker.

"Ugh, this is dumb," Jaune added and pressed on the communication device in his ear. "Bradford? How long until we can take off again?"

 _"We're trying to get the systems back up. It takes a while with a ship this size. Is there still no one out there?"_

"No. Nothing," Jaune replied.

Ruby sighed, and looked into the distance, towards the mainland. The peninsula was covered by a lush forest, and the fog made it perfect for an ambush. Maybe that was their plan? But why didn't they attack already?

"I see something." Tucker interrupted her thought.

"Huh? What?"

Tucker pointed over the treeline. "There. I think I just saw something glowing."

Ruby tried to look the way he pointed but immediately closed her eyes again. The sun was already somewhat high up, making it impossible to actually look that way. It was bright enough to actually shine through the fog. "That's it!" She yelled. "They're using the morning sun as cover!"

"What?" Jaune yelled and pressed on his com again. "Bradford? Ruby said they may be using the sun as cover? Can't you detect them?"

 _"Our systems aren't that good. We can only see their rough position. So what she's saying might be true."_

Jaune was unable to answer Bradford, as someone behind him yelled out. "ADVENT!"

Ruby quickly looked to the sky, shielding her eyes with her hand. A dropship opened its sides, and a pod of Advent Soldiers jumped out, accompanied by a MEC.

"Okay, open fire!" She yelled, and the few operatives around her shot at the enemies. One of the Soldiers died in the hail of bullets, while the other two doves behind a rock. The MEC prepared its grenade launcher.

"Fuck! Run!" Grif yelled, running back into the ship at a surprisingly high speed. However, just as the rockets were about to hit, a saving shield appeared above them, stopping the explosives.

She looked behind her and saw Velvet, who had used her camera to recreate Aqua's staff, and apparently also a spell it could use.

Ruby used the chance and moved her Scythe until the MEC's head was in its crosshairs. She shot, and the special EMP ammo she packed went straight through the robot, destroying it.

However, the relief didn't hold long, as two more dropships came in, dropping of Soldiers, Vipers, and Sectoids.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked, ducking down as shots flew over his head. "What about Megumin?"

"No, not yet," Ruby replied. "We only can use her once. We should wait until something really big comes along. We can deal with this."

Zhang mowed down a Sectoid with his MG next to her but got hit in the shoulder by one of the Soldiers. Ruby looked over her cover and was able to spot two heavy MECs standing out in the open. While they were tough opponents, they were unable to go into cover. "Simmons?"

"Yeah?" The trooper asked, looking up from his cover. He was holding an Assault Rifle tight to his armored chest and took potshots onto the battlefield.

"There are two MECs out there. Can you use your SPARK to hack 'em?"

"Sure. Good idea." Simmons shortly looked over the barrier and pointed at one of the MECs. His SPARK, painted a maroon color to fit his armor, went out into the field, and hovered next to the MEC.

Ruby nodded, hoping that this could create some diversion and give them extra firepower. "Hey, Bradford? How long until you can get the turrets up?"

 _"One more minute. We're trying to re-route some power to the defense Matrix."_

"Affirmative. Rose out." She went back to taking out enemy soldiers, picking them off with her Sniper Rifle. However, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps behind her and turned around. Three more Operatives had left the Avenger, reinforcing their position.

The Chief, who was part of the second wave, aimed his rifle and took down one of the Soldiers. Behind him, Pyrrha moved up to a tree in front of the barriers, while Darkness flanked her.

"Ruby," Jaune said. "I'll help Pyrrha with her advance."

"Understood. I'll cover you from here."

He ran off, joining up with Pyrrha and Darkness. The sound of a machine shutting down diverted her attention, and she saw how one of the MECs shut down, only to come back again, and open fire on his companion.

"Nice work, Simmons!"

"Thanks."

The MEC managed to shoot off an arm from the other MEC, making it unable to hold its heavy rifle. However, one of the two Officers on the field realized the betrayal and threw a Grenade at the robot. It landed under it, blowing the robot up, and sending it flying behind a stone. It got up one last time, firing it rockets on itself, taking out both the MEC and the Officer.

"Nice!" Ruby yelled out, shooting another Soldier. Turrets finally rose out from the ground, and immediately opened fire on the attackers.

 _"Corporal Rose?"_ Bradford asked.

"Yes?"

 _"We think we found out how they're keeping us down. There has to be a machine nearby, emitting EMP waves. You have to take it out, or we're just a sitting duck."_

"Got it," Ruby replied, and contacted Jaune. She was still able to see him in the distance, moving from cover to cover, but he probably wouldn't hear her over the gunfire. "Jaune?"

 _"Kinda busy!"_

"Bradford said there's an EMP-transmitter nearby. Can you, Pyrrha and Darkness take it down?"

 _"Sure. Leave it to us. But keep your position!"_

"No problem." Ruby took another one of the soldiers in her sights, and shot, turning its head into an orange cloud.

Even more, landing ships closed in, dropping off more and more enemies. Right now, they were still able to hold the position, but Ruby wasn't sure for how long.

* * *

Jaune jumped over a small stone, followed by Pyrrha and Darkness. He wasn't quite sure where that transmitter or whatever it was stood, so the only thing they could do was search for it.

However, he was sure that it couldn't be too far away from the Avenger. Luckily, most of the Advent forces were concentrating on storming the Avenger, leaving only a few small scouts behind the enemy's front lines.

"What exactly are we searching for?" Darkness asked.

"A machine of some sorts," Jaune explained. "It's what's keeping us on the ground. If my line of thought is correct, then Advent probably built it in a position they could easily defend."

"How is it keeping the ship down?"

"Through something called an E.M.P," Pyrrha replied.

"Oh, right. Grif mentioned that."

"Really? Good that you're learning some of the modern lingoes." Jaune replied. They ducked down, as a scouting party walked past them.

"Well, you actually got it wrong."

"Huh? How?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's not E.M.P., but Emp."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked at Darkness in disbelief and sighed. "Just trust us, okay?" Jaune opened up a comm channel to Ruby. "Ruby? How's the defense going?"

 _"We're able to hold them off, but they started to bring in a few heavier units. Try to be fast, please."_

Jaune nodded. "We gotta find that transmitter."

"And how? We can't see through that thick fog and the woods." Pyrrha pointed out. "And the Avenger's radar doesn't seem to be able to detect it either."

"I'm afraid that the only thing we can do, is searching for that thing by looking everywhere," Jaune said and jumped over the stone. He drew his sword and snuck up on a small scouting party, made out of two soldiers. One swing later, and one of them was decapitated.

The other one turned around but died with a spear in its chest. Pyrrha drew her weapon back to herself and got out of her cover.

"I'm gonna take a look over there," Jaune said, pointing at a small rock pillar. "It should be a good vantage point. Stay here and keep any Advent Units off my back."

"No problem," Pyrrha replied. Jaune smiled and started to climb up the rock. Pyrrha watched as he ascended the pillar.

"Pyrrha?" Darkness asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Well, it's about Jaune. You like him, don't you?"

Pyrrha jumped back in shock. "What? No way. Nope."

"Yeah, you like him."

"Where did you even get that idea?"

"It's not hard to see. How you always look at him, how you try to get him to realize it. You'd have to be blind not to realize it. Or, well, Jaune."

Pyrrha looked into the fog. "Okay, yeah. I like him. But don't tell him, okay? I want him to realize it himself. It wouldn't feel right if I'd push it onto him." She narrowed her eyes, as she could've sworn that something just moved inside the fog. She grabbed her spear. "Darkness, I think there's something in the fog."

"Oh, really?" The Paladin grabbed her sword. "Were you able to see what it was?"

"No. I just saw something move."

They both got ready for a fight, waiting for something to attack them. The silence made the wait a lot harder, even if it was interrupted by gunshots in the distance.

"Are you sure that you saw something?"

"Yeah, I-" Pyrrha jumped back scared as something flew out of the fog. The small object landed between them, and it didn't take her long to realize what it was. "Grenade!"

She quickly used her Semblance to throw Darkness away and jumped into safety herself. The Grenade exploded, engulfing the base of the rock in green plasma.

Pyrrha rolled onto her feet, and took potshots into the fog, hoping to hit anything. Preferably an enemy. Whatever threw the Grenade shot back, and streaks of plasma hit a few rocks behind her, melting them.

The creature slowly came out of the fog. It was muscular, yet sleek. Its body was covered by a green armor, except for the pink head, which was completely free. It held a heavy Plasma Gun in its hands and looked ready for a fight.

Pyrrha recognized it as a Muton if her memory wasn't playing tricks on her. At first, it looked like a tough enemy, but she immediately realized its big weak point: The exposed head.

She charged at the monster, sliding down under a swing with its weapon. She stabbed her spear into its back and climbed up the monster. Once on top, she stabbed her spear into its neck, killing the Muton.

"That was easy." Darkness said. "I'm kinda disappointed."

Pyrrha wasn't even willing to guess why the Paladin was disappointed and looked back up. Jaune had managed to reach the top, at least she wasn't able to see him anymore. After roughly a minute, he came back into sight and started climbing down the rock.

He jumped off roughly one meter above Pyrrha and grunted. "I think I've found it."

"Where?"

"Southeast. There are a lot of lights visible through the fog."

"And any idea how to disable it?" Darkness asked.

"I thought we could just shoot it. I also have a Grenade with me. Hopefully, that'll be enough. If it isn't, well then we can just go back to the Avenger and get more supplies. I mean, we do know where it is now."

"Sounds good. Then let's go finish this up." Pyrrha added.

* * *

"Damn, they got a lot of units here!" Blake said. She quickly shot two of the Soldiers rushing forward, and went back into cover.

Ruby silently agreed and looked over the barricade. In the last minutes, Advent had started to drop off more enemies than they could handle, and now the first had started to advance towards the Avenger. It wasn't hard to guess what their strategy was: Overrunning them. And it was not like that was hard to do.

But first, they had to get in enough units. And as long as they kept shooting them, it would take longer. At least that was the plan for now. Holding out until Jaune took down the emitter.

 _"Firebrand here! We're inbound on you, Avenger. We'll drop off whoever can still fight to reinforce the front lines."_

"Understood," Ruby replied.

She heard engines above her and saw the dropship closing in. The bay opened up, and Aqua, Yatsuhashi, and Fischer jumped out. Firebrand flew up on top of the Avenger, vanishing from sight.

"Hey. You okay?"

"We're ready to fight," Fischer replied. "How many enemies?"

"A few dozens at this point," Ruby replied, and looked at Aqua. "We have a few wounded up in the hangar bay. Can you go help them?"

"Sure," Aqua replied and ran off.

Ruby saw how the Chief suddenly turned around. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I could've sworn I saw something, but well..." He turned back towards the enemies and continued shooting them.

"By the way, what exactly were you fighting? I can't imagine one of these guys messing you up this much." Blake asked.

"Caboose called them Hunters. Trust me, they were stronger than almost anything I've seen at this point."

"Hunters?" The Chief asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Big, bulky, and full of worms." Yatsuhashi replied, before laying waste to a few stones Advent used as a cover with his Machine Gun.

The Chief looked back into the Avenger, and then at Blake. "Come with me."

"Why?"

"I have a bad feeling."

Blake looked at Ruby, who nodded in response. "Go. I'm sure the Chief knows what he's doing."

Blake followed the Masterchief into the Avenger, and Ruby shifted her attention back to the fight in front of them. More Advent soldiers had started to run at them, disregarding their own safety.

A Viper actually managed to break through and tried to ensnare Tucker, who immediately cut it in two with his Energy Sword.

"Jaune... Please, we won't be able to hold out for much longer."

* * *

"It's a mess out there," Bradford muttered, watching the camera feed. "Shen? How long until we can reactivate the ship's guns?"

"Thirty minutes," Shen replied, looking up from a terminal in the corner of the bridge.

"Damn, we can't hold out for that long."

Bradford turned around as the door to the bridge opened. The Masterchief came in, followed by Blake. "Chief? What are you doing here?"

The Spartan looked over the bridge, before replying back to Central. "Has anything come through here?"

"No. Why are you asking?"

The Spartan and Blake looked at each other and nodded. "Good."

"Wait, where's the Commander?" Blake asked.

"He is over in his quarters. He wanted to arm himself." Bradford noticed the distressed look on the faces of the two. Or Blake at least. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. But there's no time to explain." Blake yelled, and the two ran out.

Bradford turned around to his post and opened a direct line to Donut and Ren. "Corporal Ren, Corporal Donut, can you hear me?"

 _"Yes, loud and clear,"_ Ren replied.

 _"I can hear you as if you were next to my ear!"_ Donut added.

"Get to the Commander's quarters ASAP. And follow every order the Chief gives you!" He cut the line immediately.

"You think something's coming after the Commander?" Shen asked.

"Why else would those two be that distressed? They'll handle it. We have to concentrate on shutting down the EMP emitter." Bradford looked at the battlefield, using the cameras attached to the Avenger. More and more enemy troops were rushing their position.

* * *

The Commander sighed as he put in the access codes to his personal locker. Standard procedure when the ship was under attack. The locker opened with a small creak and revealed a Desert Eagle, his weapon of choice in this situation. Perfect for tight corridors.

"Commander?" One of the operatives behind him asked. With him was Lieutenant Csarda, who was assigned as his personal bodyguard in case of an attack.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll lose?"

"I don't. We've always pulled through." He replied, grabbing his Handgun.

"And you think this time will be no different?" Another voice asked.

Both jumped at the new voice, unable to recognize it. It carried a certain conviction within its speech. "Who are you?"

"That does not matter. Our Plan is already in full effect." The Commander noticed that the voice was seemingly unable to properly pronounce the 'P', for some reason. That meant it wasn't using a translator, but rather learned the language naturally.

"Show yourself!"

"I will not. Commander, you might think that you're doing the right thing. But you're just delaying the inevitable. Without Advent's rule, this world, this universe is destined to collapse in upon itself, once _they_ return."

"Pfft. You're talking about those that took my family!" Csarda yelled. "Just go fuck yourself!"

"And look at your little posse. Talking highly, as if he was the superior species. He is but a meaningless speck."

"Shut the fu-" Csarda's voice turned into gurgling, as a shot erupted, burning right through his chest. He fell to the ground lifeless, spilling blood all over the carpet and a stench of burned flesh filled the room. The Commander immediately shot into the direction the shot came from but hit nothing.

"I take it that you're leading this attack?"

"You are fast, I have to give you that. Yes, I am."

"This is pretty unusual then. Advent normally doesn't lead their troops into battle themselves."

"There is no honor in standing far away from battle while sending your men to die. I wouldn't ask you to understand. After all, you're doing this exact thing."

The Commander jumped back in surprise, as two blue blades suddenly appeared in the air. Quickly, a creature seemingly shifted into reality.

It was roughly three meters tall, and its mouth consisted of four mandibles. The body of the creature was covered in a thick, ornament red armor. The hands of the Alien ended in three clawed fingers, and his knees bent backward. The arms of the Alien were covered in tattoos, painted on in white color to stand out from the dark grey scales.

"And why are you helping Advent?" The Commander replied. "I've never seen your species before, so you are obviously recruited by the Elders afterward."

"Because the Elders are the only way for salvation. But now that you and your humans have deactivated the relay, I am losing control over the sector. The only way to please the Elders is if I bring them your head."

He lifted up his sword, and let it down towards the Commander. He rolled to the side, and the sword cut the couch in half, burning the cushioning in the process. He shot at the Alien as soon as he got up but saw an energy shield lighting up, absorbing the shot.

The Alien walked towards him, as a few bullets suddenly went into its sight. It turned around and looked at the entrance. The Masterchief and Blake were standing there, both having their weapons aimed at the enemy.

"A Sangheili. Like I thought." The Chief said.

"The Demon? That is a surprise. I thought I was able to sneak past you."

"Give up. It's three against one." Blake added.

"A Sangheili would never give up. Especially when faced with the Demon himself." The Elite charged forward and lunged at the Chief.

The Spartan jumped backward, dodging the blade just in time. He grabbed the Sangheili's arm and threw him against the wall. The Sangheili stood back up immediately. "Ten years haven't done much to your abilities, I see."

"Ten? I thought only three years have passed?" Blake asked in confusion.

"Maybe in this world. Time used to flow differently before the Elders installed the dimensional anchors." The Sangheili replied. "But it does not matter right now." He turned back at the Chief. "What matters is that I, Sero 'Forgam, will take your head and return it to the Elders. Alongside the ship."

"Try it," Blake said and shot the Sangheili. The bullets were absorbed by his energy shielding, and he charged at her, swinging his blade at her head. Blake dodged the attack and tied her ribbon to his arm. She pulled him towards her and tried kicking him into the lower mandibles.

However, he caught her leg and threw her into the cut couch. The Chief immediately attacked him with a combat knife, trying to get in a few strikes. The Sangheili was unable to dodge or block the entire furry of stabs and slashes, and his shield flickered, again and again, getting weaker with each hit.

The Alien wasn't a pushover though. He fiercely retaliated, using an energy dagger of his own. Both blades clashed, and the Chief's knife got cut in half by the plasma. He threw away the hilt as the molten metal dropped onto his armored hand.

A second later, the Sangheili sucker punched the Chief, sending him stumbling back. He shook his head, and punched back, causing the Sangheili to fall onto the ground.

The Alien rolled back onto his feet and pulled a small, purple weapon from his belt. Well, small in relation to the Sangheili. To the Commander and Blake, it was almost as big as their chest. It looked like tow purple sticks, hovering against each other thanks to blue energy.

Blue Plasma shot towards the Chief, who tried to dodge the attack. He rolled behind the coffee table and threw it over. The Plasma immediately destroyed the furniture. But the distraction worked.

Blake jumped up from behind the couch, throwing the ribbon of Gambol Shroud. It tied itself around the Sangheili's neck, lumping his body backward. The Chief picked up the Plasma Rifle, and shot at the Sangheili, quickly draining his shields.

Once they were broken, Blake pulled the Alien towards her and stabbed her blade through his chest. Sero cried out in pain, and purple blood shot out of his mouth before he collapsed.

The Chief walked up to the dying Sangheili and kneeled down. "I have a few questions for you."

"And why would I answer any of your questions, Demon?" The Sangheili asked.

"We beat you in combat. You're an honorable warrior."

The Sangheili pulled his mandibles together. "Very well. Ask."

"What is the state of affairs back home? Is the UNSC still functional?"

"It is not." The Sangheili replied, clearly amused. "It is wiped out. Your precious home planet, Earth, is but a wasteland. We finished what we started, thanks to the Elders."

"You broke through the defense force?" The Chief sounded shocked.

"No. The defense fleet was already gone when we burned your world. You should have seen what the Elders did. Your entire government." The Sangheili coughed, spitting out more blood. "Gone in a matter of minutes."

"And the Arbiter?" The Chief asked. "Did he side with Advent too?"

"That coward is no real Sangheili. He opposed the Elders. But after Vadam Keep burned, he went into hiding. Even if you go back to our home, you will find nothing left. All you ever knew is gone."

The Chief seemed to ponder what he just heard for a moment, and tightened his fist. "That is all."

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"I am." The Masterchief aimed the Plasma Rifle at the Sangheili's head.

"Demon, today I tread the path of my forefathers. But you, you will always be a lost soul. And when you defeat the Elders, then there will be more despair waiting for you."

Without answering, the Chief shot a couple of Plasma round into the Sangheili, completely annihilating his head, before throwing the weapon away.

"Thank you." The Commander said, standing up. "What was that?"

"An Elite," Cortana explained. "Or Sangheili in their own language. They were the heart of the Covenant, back when it was still around. At the end of the war, they joined forces with us after being betrayed by their Prophets."

"First Hunters and now Elites?" The Chief added.

"He mentioned ten years..." Blake muttered.

"Right." The Chief looked at the Commander.

Suddenly, the door opened. "Donut's here to fill you up!"

"God's dammit," Blake replied.

* * *

Jaune pushed his back against a small wall, which at one point belonged to a power relay. A few of the transmitters were still discernable, though the plant life had started to take the building back.

In the middle of the small courtyard stood their objective: An EMP transmitter. It sent out small electromagnetic waves every ten seconds. Guards were looking over the area, consisting of an Advent Priest, two Mutons, one Viper and three Soldiers.

They were walking around in small groups, but all of them saw each other, meaning that they couldn't try to take one group out without the others noticing.

"Any ideas?" Pyrrha asked, looking over the wall.

"What about charging in?" Darkness suggested.

"That's suicide," Jaune added. "We have to think about something else." He quickly looked over to the transmitters. "Hmm. Pyrrha? Can you try to bend around some of that metal?"

"Sure." Pyrrha moved her hands around in the air, making one of the transmitters hit another. An electrical shock lit up the fog, drawing the attention of the Advent troops. Half of them moved towards the distraction, leaving behind the Priest, the Viper, and the Soldiers.

"Now!" Jaune yelled. They jumped over the wall, and Pyrrha immediately threw her spear. It pierced the shoulder of the Priest, dragging him into the fog.

The Viper turned around in an instant and started shooting. A few of the shots hit Pyrrha, draining her Aura immensely.

Jaune shot his Rifle, taking down the Viper without any problems. Luckily, he had looked into their anatomy a bit, making it easy to discern where their vital body parts were.

The Advent soldiers opened fire, forcing the three to take cover behind an old transmitter. Darkness shot, hitting nothing except the wall behind them.

"Seriously?" Jaune asked. He pulled out a Grenade and rolled it towards the Soldiers.

A fireball engulfed all three of them, taking them out. Just on cue, the Mutons stormed back out of the fog and charged the position of XCOM.

Pyrrha threw a metal sheet at one of the Mutons, sending it deep into his side. The Alien didn't slow down though, and Pyrrha charged in herself, using a metal pole as makeshift replacement of Milo. She stabbed it through the first Muton, but the second one managed to punch her into her guts.

She flew back in a heap, landing against the wall. The impact took out what remained of her Aura, and red sparks flashed over her body.

"Dammit," Jaune growled. He shot the Mutons, gaining their attention back. "Darkness, I can't believe I'm saying this, but distract them."

"With pleasure!"

"I don't doubt that..." Jaune deadpanned, as Darkness stormed at the Mutons, sword in her hands.

She tried to slash them, but missed every hit. Just what Jaune wanted. One of the Mutons swatted the sword away and tried to hit the Paladin with his gun, but to no avail. Darkness blocked the weapon, gripping it tightly.

Jaune nodded and charged in. He took one of the Mutons by surprise, and cut into its leg, severing it from the body. The Muton let out a guttural roar, and Jaune finished it by shooting his weapon into its head.

The last Muton tried to shove Darkness away, but she managed to push back. Both opponents put all their strength into the match, but it was soon clear who the winner was. The Mutons arms started bending backward, and cracks echoed over the area as its bones shattered. The Muton stumbled back in pain, and Darkness threw its weapon after the monster.

The weight of the weapon was enough to throw the Muton of its feet, and Jaune shot into the green bits of the rifle. The plasma inside spilled out, right onto the Muton. It roared one last time, before dying.

Jaune immediately ran over to Pyrrha and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It only shattered my Aura. Let's finish this job and go back."

Jaune smiled and nodded. "Yeah." He reached into his bag and pulled out an X4 charge. It was easily attached to the transmitter. "Central? We are about to blow that transmitter up."

 _"Good to hear. Come back to the Avenger, and blow it up once you're in a safe distance."_

"Got it." Jaune closed the channel. The three started walking back, and after they left the courtyard, Jaune pressed the button on a small controller.

The transmitter went up in flames, and a big smoke tower started to rise up into the air.

"Well done." Darkness said.

"Yeah. That was actually pretty easy." Jaune replied.

"Oh, right. I gotta get back Milo." Pyrrha added. "Honestly, I think we should celebrate this later."

"Sounds good. Maybe a small party."

"Oh, that's a good idea. May-" Pyrrha stopped talking, as crimson blood suddenly shot into the air, alongside bone fragments.

Milo came flying back and went straight into the back of Pyrrha's head. It shot out of the front, and Jaune looked in horror as Pyrrha fell to the ground. The upper left of her head was gone, turned into nothing but a bloody mess.

He looked back into the fog, and saw the Priest, coming out. His head was glowing purple, indicating him using psionics. He immediately shot his Assault Rifle, perforating the Priest, before sinking to his knees next to Pyrrha.

"Oh god!" Darkness gasped.

"No, please! Pyrrha! Pyrrha!" Jaune screamed, holding her tight to his body.

Darkness grabbed the earpiece from Jaune. "Bradford? We need help! Pyrrha! She got hit!"

Jaune felt how the world around him drained of sound and color, as he wrapped his arms around his friend. "Dammit!"

* * *

"How is she?" Jaune asked. He walked up to the glass pane, behind which Aqua and a few medics were taking care of the wounded.

"They said she's alive," Nora stated.

"Are you okay?" Ren added.

"Yeah, I am," Jaune said with a weak voice. He looked through the glass and saw multiple people running around Pyrrha like moths around a flame.

"No, you're not." Darkness added.

"Why shouldn't I be fine?" Jaune replied, slowly getting angry.

"Cause you're bawling your eyes out," Nora said. "You're blaming yourself, are you?"

"I'm not," Jaune replied. "This wasn't my fault. It wasn't Pyrrha's fault. This was Advent's fault. I just want to know... Why now? It was all going so well, and now, from one moment to the other..." He punched against the glass. "Dammit."

"Maybe that's exactly why it happened," Ren stated. "We thought everything was going to be easy because all our missions went well. We got too full of ourselves, and now we've paid the prize."

"Hey, lighten up." Nora interrupted. "She's still alive, isn't she? I bet she'll be running around the ship again soon!"

"I hope so..." Jaune muttered. "I hope so..." He slowly walked away, half limping.

"What exactly happened out there?" Ren asked.

"I don't know for sure. Pyrrha shot her spear at that Priest, but I guess it didn't kill him, and he shot it back." Darkness explained. "That, what did you call it, Aura of hers broke shortly before, so it was unable to protect her."

"Damn. Sounds like it really was just a little mistake." Nora muttered.

"I have a small question though..." Darkness added. "How did she survive? It looked like the attack took out half of her skull..."

"She got lucky," Zhang said, suddenly standing next to them.

"What? Where did you come from?"

"I brought the medics some medicine form the storage room," Zhang explained. "It only took out her left eye and scraped her brain. A few millimeters more to the right and she would've been a goner."

"And what's happening now? Is she going to be okay?"

"Luckily Jaune and Darkness managed to bring her here fast enough. She has lost a helluva lot of blood. We might be able to save her life. But I'm not sure if she can return to combat."

"You know..." Nora started. "Back home, people always called her the 'Invisible Girl'."

"Titles don't matter on the battlefield. What matters is your abilities, the enemy and a bit of luck. This time, you lacked the latter." He shoved himself off the wall and walked down the hallway. "Be lucky she's still alive. That's a better fate than some others had."

He left Nora, Ren, and Darkness alone, and the three looked back through the window. Aqua pulled a curtain around the bed, as they started the operation.

* * *

"We're glad to hear that you made it out in one piece," Volk said, putting a cigar into his mouth.

"Thank you," Bradford replied, drinking a sip from his coffee. He was in the meeting room alongside the Masterchief, the Commander, Tygan, Blake, and Ruby.

"However, we feel sorrow for the wounded," Geist added. "But you managed to destroy the relay and bring back a psionic crystal. I believe this was worth it."

"Pfft, idiot. They put their lives on the line for a damn crystal." Volk spat out.

"Calm down, don't start a fight now." Bradford interrupted. "We have something more important to talk about."

"And what would that be?" A female voice asked.

Bradford looked at the third monitor and looked into the eyes of Betos, the leader of the Skirmishers. her history was rather... unique. While the others were human, she was an Ex-Advent Soldier, that somehow managed to pull out their implant and become free. Others followed, and thus, the Skirmishers came to be.

"I am glad you asked," Tygan said. "We had a security breach during the siege. A single Alien, the leader of the attack, snuck into the ship with the goal to execute the Commander."

"Luckily, the Chief and I were able to prevent that," Blake added. "But he said something that we couldn't ignore."

"Exactly. He mentioned that it had been ten years since Advent invaded our home." The Chief added.

"Nonsense," Geist replied. "It has been merely three years since the first confirmed attacks-"

"Don't judge this fast, my dear Geist." One of the other monitors suddenly came to live, showing Nagito. "You should let him speak first."

"What the hell are you doing?" Volk asked.

"I didn't allow you any communication," Byanju said. "Get off this channel at once!"

"Why? I have just as much of a right to be here, don't I? After all, I am representing my own homeworld."

"What? You aren't from Earth?" Ruby asked confused.

"No, I am. But this Earth has a different history than mine. So I concluded that-"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up. Now, why do you think it has some merit?" Volk asked, shifting back to the important topic.

"Thank you," Tygan said. "The Sangheili, as the Chief called him, said that Advent had to install something called dimensional anchors to regulate the flow of time between the realms. It does sound reasonable. After all, it would explain why their world is so much more advanced than ours, while others are not."

"So it has been ten years in the other realms?" Betos asked.

"We're not sure. We only know that a decade has passed in the Masterchief's home. We don't know anything about Remnant, or whatever place Megumin and her friends are from." Ruby explained.

"But we deduced that the Reds and Blues might have the same difference in time. Their technology seems to be equal to the one the UNSC possesses."

"There is also the fact that Advent most likely hasn't conquered all worlds at the same time. That complicates things even further." The Chairman muttered.

"Very true. But maybe if we can get some data on when they attacked the other worlds, we might have a better idea." Geist explained.

"If I may..." Nagito interrupted. "I believe that, once we have access to that data, we should consider attacking the most recently conquered world first. It is likely that Advent hasn't smashed all resistance there yet, much less built up much of an infrastructure."

"For once, I have to agree with him. " Byanju said. "It does seem like a viable option."

"Pfft, for us Reapers, there is no need for that," Volk stated. "Ever heard of the Winter War? Or Continuation War? We're the masters of guerilla war."

"Wait, aren't you guys Russian?" Bradford asked.

"Don't sweat the details."

"He can drive around in his BT-42 while playing Säkkijarven Polka all he wants, but without an actual force, we won't be able to do anything against Advent," Nagito said.

"That was... oddly specific," Blake muttered.

"I think all of you are missing something." Betos interrupted. "It is true that we have to free these other worlds too. But right now, we can't even get there."

"Sadly, that is true." Geist agreed, nodding his head. "We can't exactly travel between the realms. We don't even know how they are doing it."

"I know." Cortana interrupted.

"Who is that?" Volk asked.

"That is Cortana. She's the AI that arrived here with the Masterchief." Ruby explained.

"Well then. How exactly does Advent traverse the realms?" Betos asked.

"Admittedly, this is only a theory as of now. But I would guess that they are utilizing modified Slipspace Drives. Back home, we used them for interstellar travel. To make it short, they rip a hole into a dimension called Slipspace, and then the ship uses this dimension to quickly move from point A to point B."

"But that begs the question how they got there in the first place," Bradford replied.

"I don't think it is that far out there," Tygan said. "The Elders had to get here somewhere. And even with their Elerium drives, they aren't able to achieve FTL speed. Maybe they just found something they could use to travel between dimensions here on Earth."

"Then our top priority would be to get our hands on one of these Slipspace drives after we got the data we need."

"That, and we need someone who can put it into the Avenger," Cortana explained. "I can give some of the instructions, but I can't make the modifications myself."

"If that is our plan, then I want to propose something. Avenger, I would like to ask you to visit Deimos."

"That was our plan anyway." The Commander explained. "We are slowly running out of ammo. We need some more resources."

"Thank you. I will see you then. Betos out." Her screen shut off, followed by Volk, Byanju, the Chairman, and Geist.

"What an interesting turn of events. If you excuse me, I have to do something. And trust me, it will benefit our plan greatly." Nagito said, cutting his connection too.

"Are we done now?" Ruby asked. "I want to see if Pyrrha is doing okay."

"Sure. You and Blake are free to leave. Go take care of your friend."

"Thank you very much," Ruby replied. She and Blake walked up to the door and left.

"At least we have a rough plan now," Bradford stated, and pulled up a small tablet. "I will make a list of what we need in order to gain one of these drives. Tygan, please continue on your current research."

"Speaking of which, have you made any progress?" The Commander added.

"No. Despite the help we received from Miss Aqua, we are still unable to make out most of the writing."

"Most?" Bradford pointed out.

"Yes. We were able to confirm one word: _Imperatix._ We don't know how it stands in correlation with any other words though."

"No problem. You can take your time. Deciphering an ancient, unknown language isn't done in one day. For now, you are all dismissed. I believed that after today's events, we all need some shuteye."

* * *

 **And Chapter 11 is here.**

 **Well, Pyrrha's out for a while. I think this is a good time to point out that this isn't a story where no one will die or be fine all the way through. The characters are going to get hurt, and maybe even die.**

 **Now to reviews:**

 **nphillips0115: Yes, he will show up, as already teased by this Chapter. Freelancers are going to appear later on too. After all, at least two are missing right now.**

 **Ellight1: Thanks. Originally, I wanted to end the Chapter with Weiss passing out, but I thought that it would be a bit cruel, and the Invasion forces closing in was a better way to end the Chapter.**

 **ChronoHyperion: Thanks. To answer your questions:**  
 **\- Yes, there are resistance groups there.**  
 **\- Yes**  
 **\- Yes, however, I don't think Del Rio would help Advent. He was pretty much against even working together with the Sangheili in Hunt the Truth.**  
 **\- Somewhat, but I don't wanna spoil it**

 **Guest: Well, here you go.**

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft******************


	12. Desert Canyons

Chapter 12: Desert Canyons

The sun rose behind the sandy hills of the Sahara desert, bathing the sand in a warm, orange light. A few lizards lied down on rocks to take in the sun rays. However, they quickly scattered, as the massive Avenger moved downwards, throwing up dust with its thrusters.

It descended into a system of canyons and caves, using the only entrance large enough for a ship this size. Luckily, that means that no big Advent forces were able to launch an assault. The ship landed on a small rock plateau, and the hangar bay opened.

The inside was instantly flooded with dry, hot wind and sand particles. Velvet closed her eyes, trying not to get any sand into them. Once the air had stopped, she opened them again and went outside.

Deimos, the smallest Haven, looked like an old city of nomads. The huts around them were either made out of metal sheets or were carved into the stone, and different food stalls stood around everywhere, selling cooked lizards and cactus.

"Man, this is weird," Coco stated, looking at one of the stalls. "I mean, we've been in the other Havens before, but this is the first that's actually trying to sell us things."

"Eh, they're probably trying to keep some sense of normalcy," Simmons replied. "I'm more worried about the guards here." He looked over to one of the Skirmishers.

Before landing, the new operatives were briefed on the nature of Bethos and her followers. Roughly a decade ago, they somehow managed to break free from Advent, and are now fighting against their previous leaders, hoping to free as many of their kind as possible and repent for their sins.

Of course, not everyone was greeting them with open arms. There had been voices who were against it, but the Skirmishers had proven themselves to be proud, reliable and loyal allies.

"Hey, are you interested in Deimos' specialty?" One of the merchants asked.

Velvet shrugged. "Sure."

He nodded and pulled something out from under his stall. It looked like an overcooked cactus, with a small, fried egg next to it. "Feria. The Skirmishers love it."

"Uh, thanks?" Velvet took the food and gave him a bit of money in exchange. She bit into it, and almost immediately spit it back out. "Oh gods, this is horrible."

"You aren't a Skirmisher. No surprise there." Coco replied with a smile. "Any plans on where to go?"

"Not really, no. Bradford and the others want to meet with Bethos in an hour, but I don't think we need to be there."

"So we got some free time. Well then, let's find a restaurant or something." Coco replied.

"What about this thing?" Megumin asked, pointing at a small hut in the corner.

"Wait, let's see," Simmons muttered, looking at the sign. "Supernova prophecies. 20 dollars per reading. I'm right 30 percent of the time, all the time!"

"So a clairvoyant? Sounds cool." Megumin said. "Let's go in there."

"I dunno. I never believed this stuff. They are all con-artists looking to screw over dumb customers." Coco explained.

"Yeah, there's no such thing as clairvoyance," Simmons added. "It's just nonsense, like all magic."

Megumin bopped him on the head with her staff, though the only thing it did was producing a clang. "Are you serious?"

"Right, you got magic."

"So, Velvet? What do you say?"

"I mean, why not? We got time. And if he really wants to screw us over, we can just force him to give us our money back."

"Looks like you learned from me. Okay then, let's go inside."

* * *

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby said, approaching her friend. He was standing outside the door to the infirmary, waiting for her.

"Hey, Rubes. Ready to go inside?"

"Yeah. Come on."

They opened the door, and walked over the third bed from the right, pushing the curtains to the side.

The occupant of the bed looked around and smiled at them. A bandage was covering the right side of Pyrrha's face, leaving only the mouth and left eye visible. "Good morning."

"Hey, Pyrrha," Jaune said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm glad you finally woke up."

"Thanks," Pyrrha replied weakly.

"Here, I brought you this. You must be hungry." Ruby said, pulling out a protein bar.

"Uh, thanks." Pyrrha took the bar and unwrapped it.

"Sorry that it's nothing tasty. Zhang told me to bring you something that will help you get back on your feet."

"So... Did the doctors say anything?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha sighed. "They put a metal plate in my head... 'To keep my brains from flowing out', as one of them put it. I have to get used to it. However, I don't think that I can use my Semblance ever again..."

"Jeez. Must be a hard hit." Ruby said.

"It is. But they said that they can maybe replace it with plastic or polymer later."

"And your eye?" Jaune asked, pointing at his own.

"Ugh, that's the worst part. I don't have a right eye anymore. Apparently, it was completely destroyed. Even Aqua was unable to restore it with her magic. But hey, maybe I can get an eyepatch or something." Pyrrha said, trying to get herself into a better mood.

"Did they say anything about when you can leave your bed again?"

"In a week or so. After all, my legs are just fine. But my wounds have to somewhat heal first."

"I don't understand how you survived though... That hit was gnarly." Jaune said and sat down in a chair.

"They said that, even though my Aura was depleted, it continued to try and restore itself. However, it also tried to heal the wound, and that somehow helped my blood with clogging. What I don't understand is how my Aura tried to restore itself. It should take a bit."

"Yeah, that's a good question."

"Other than that, what kept me alive was the fact that medics were there almost instantaneous. It was almost over for me though..."

"But you're alive. And that's great! Only a week and you can fight again!" Ruby said happily.

"Why would I?" Pyrrha said in an unusually serious tone.

"Huh? You are Pyrrha Nikos! You won the Mistral Tournament four times in a row! You are the best student at Beacon!" Ruby explained.

"Doesn't matter. Even if I am the best, all of this still happened. What if I go out there, not to mention without any field of depth, and get hurt again? Or worse, what if someone else gets hurt?"

"But-"

"No 'but'. I'm not going back out there, period. I- I don't want this to happen again. I will see what I can do from in here. And Jaune..." Pyrrha looked at the boy. "I'm not sure how you are feeling, but I want to say that this isn't your fault. I was reckless."

"Right. Honestly, we should've made sure that this Priest was actually dead. But if it helps you, I already pumped him full of holes. Or her. Or it. I'm not exactly sure how those things work. Oh, and if you wonder, Darkness has survived too."

"Oh, I know. She already visited me."

"Wait, when?"

"Half an hour ago. Asked if I needed anything from the village."

"Pyrrha..." Ruby muttered. "I-"

"It's alright. I know how you feel. I'm sure if I was in your position, I would also try to get my friend to fight again. However, the decision is mine."

"Okay..."

"Hey, Ruby? Can you leave us alone for a minute? I need to talk to Pyrrha under four eyes." Jaune said, only to receive an annoyed look from Pyrrha.

"Uh, sure. Bye. I think... I think I'm just gonna visit the Haven."

They watched Ruby leave. Jaune looked at Pyrrha and sighed. "Everyone's kinda on edge since you got hurt."

"I can believe that. Even Weiss and Yang have visited me as soon as they got out of bed."

"What now?"

"Well, as I said, I'm not going out there again. But I'll try to help out in here. I am worried about Ruby though."

"Why? She's a great fighter."

"So was I. What I mean is... How will she handle all of this? I mean, do you really think I'll be the last one?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Jaune. We both know not everyone will make it out of this last mission, Weiss and Yang got seriously injured. Then, during the attack, this happened. Advent isn't just a group of Grimm we can tear through. It's an organized military, with enough firepower to take us all out."

"I won't allow anyone to die. I promise that." Jaune said.

"I know. But honestly, I don't think that means much in the end. A small, unaccounted variable, a new enemy or even the smallest mistake can lead to someone's death. Weiss and Yang... Both of them said that they're ready."

"Ready for death?" Jaune asked in shock. "That's insane!"

"Yeah, kinda. But they said they were since they decided to become Huntresses. They've made peace with their mortality. So did I. But Ruby... I know she lost her mother, but I don't think she's understanding the concept all that well."

Jaune sank back down into the chair. "Right. Ruby's pretty naive. Hell, more naive than I was when I entered Beacon. She still has that child-like innocence."

"All I'm asking for is that you keep her safe, and if anything happens, then make sure she'll make it out all right."

"What about you?"

"I will too. I mean, both you and Ruby are pretty much my best friends at Beacon. I couldn't stand it if something happened to either of you."

"Sure. Trust me, we'll make it out of this. And then, once Advent's defeated, we'll rebuild the world." Jaune said with an uneasy smile.

"Thanks, Jaune. So, can I tell you something? It's a secret I kept for a long while, but I think this is a good time."

"Sure. You can trust me."

"Well... You see..." Pyrrha suddenly started blushing and quickly shook her head as if she pushed a thought away. "I... I wet the bed until I was seven!"

"Wait, are you serious?" Jaune asked. He noticed Pyrrha sighing silently as if she just messed up. "I wet my bed until I was fourteen! You're pretty well off!"

"Ugh, okay..." Pyrrha muttered and averted her eyes. "I- I need to rest now."

Jaune raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Fine. I'll come back later."

With that, he left and closed the curtains behind him. "Huh. Until she was seven. Didn't expect that from her." He shrugged. "Well, everyone has his skeletons in his closet."

"Jesus Christ you're dense," Grif said, lying in one of the beds.

"Grif? What are you doing here?"

"Psst. I'm playing sick. That way I don't have to do any work. Now if you excuse me, there' some diarrhea to be faked."

Jaune turned around and quickly left the infirmary. He wasn't sure what the bigger question was: Why he was dense, or how that bed was holding under that heavy armor?

* * *

Bradford slowly opened the stone door that led into the main base of Deimos. It was built inside a large dome, washed out by an underground river. The water stream was still washing through the cave, coming out of the wall, and going underground in the middle of the dome.

A few crustaceans, seemingly made out of glass, were crawling around the edges of the river, nibbling on algae.

Skirmishers were guarding every corner of the dome, with a few civilians walking around between them.

"It certainly looks peaceful. A lot more natural than the others." Sarge said. "I hate it."

"The Skirmishers decided to keep the natural order intact, as a reminder of their nature and what they fight for," Fischer explained. "While I don't agree with all their tactics and goals, I can appreciate that."

"Feels calming too," Blake added. "So, where's Bethos' office?"

"Over there," Bradford replied, pointing at a small stone door at the end of the dome. A small path made out of chiseled stone led to it.

They followed the path and went into the small room. The wall was covered in screens, depicting various areas around the Haven. In the middle stood a large table, making the room look more like a situation room than an office.

Betos stood on the other side of the table, looking at the screens. "Thank you for coming."

"Don't sweat it," Blake replied.

"Now then, you wanted to talk to me about your recent mission in..." Bethos turned around and glared at Fischer. "What's he doing here?"

"Now that we are working together again, he wanted to act as an ambassador," Bradford said, trying to calm her down.

"He? An ambassador? Do I have to remind you what they did?"

"Wait, I'm lost. What did they do? Templars seem like nice folk, except the cult stuff." Sarge said.

"I would like to know that too," Blake added.

"Back in the day, there were small encampments of us all over the Earth. That was when we just banded together to create the Skirmishers. Then, after we contacted XCOM, we pulled all of our brothers and sisters back here. However, the Templars attacked one of the encampments, and mercilessly slaughtered everyone there."

"You did what?" Sarge asked.

"This is just a big misunderstanding. True, my people did kill everyone there, but I was in no way a part of this operation. I was commanding forces on an entirely different continent during that attack."

"And why did your people attack it?" Blake asked.

"We saw it as a threat. They possessed a stockpile of old, American warheads. Nuclear warheads. Geist decided to take them back, in case there was a sleeper agent in that camp."

"So you decided it was fit to kill everyone there?" Blake asked, already furious from what she had just heard.

"No, I didn't. Geist did. And while I would never doubt his wise words and decisions, I will say that I do not have any hostility against your race." He said, turning back at Bethos.

"That. Does. Not. Excuse. What. Happened. Back. Then."

"Gotta agree with her. What your guys did sounds like a war crime to me." Sarge said.

"And that's coming from him," Blake added.

"I never committed a war crime!" Sarge growled.

"So you won't fault me for holding this hostility against the Templars. They are all dangerous if not kept in check."

"So, what now?" Blake asked.

"Get him out of my office, and we will talk. I have no interest in his kind."

"Please, Bethos. I swear I won't-"

"Fischer, get out." Bradford interrupted. "Betos has a point, whether you like it or not. We will tell you the outcome once the discussion is over."

Fischer growled and left. Once the door was closed, Bethos let out a huge sigh. "Thank God he's gone."

"Man, never expected that from the Templars," Blake muttered.

"Yes, though I would lie if I said that no faction has their share of bad things they've done in the past."

"Anyways, now that he's gone, we can continue our conversation," Bradford said. "We would like to load in the requested materials."

"Of course. Now to the other matter, I called you here for." Bethos pulled a stack of paper out of a shelf and put it onto the desk. "These are the flightpaths of every Advent craft we were able to spot and track. At first, our plan was to use these and interrupt their supply line..."

"But we can also use them to find possible landing and maintenance sites." Blake finished, putting a finger to her chin in thought. "Yeah, and there we could find a spare Slipspace drive."

"In addition to blowing up as many spaceships as we want! Hell yeah!" Sarge added in excitement.

"Calm down, you two. First, we have to find that maintenance site and devise a plan to attack it. A Slipspace Drive isn't a mere cardboard box, and the place is most likely heavily guarded. We can't just walk in there."

"And that's something I wanted to discuss." Bethos sat back down and sighed. "For this to work, we need as much help as possible. Thus, I would like you to get Volk to fully cooperate with us."

"Why not the Templars?" Blake asked.

"Because I cannot trust them, simple as that. Additionally, there could be other people that might be able to help us in retrieving it. Small pockets of resistance, people in the cities, willing to give us information, freed Advent soldiers... We need all of them and as much firepower as possible."

"It sounds like you are willing to put everything on the line for this..." Sarge muttered.

"I am, but this is our only real chance. Even if we chase them off Earth somehow, the Elders will simply return in greater force, and this time, they wouldn't leave survivors. No, our only chance to win this once and for all is to unite all who stand against Advent and the Elders."

"Except the Templars..." Blake coughed into her fist. "Well then. Thanks for the maps. Is there... Is there anything else we can help with?"

"Yes, there would be something. But I'll have to speak about it with my Generals first. For now, I will say my goodbyes."

"Yeah, bye!" Blake said and left together with Sarge.

"Thank you for the audience, Bethos," Bradford added, and shook her hand, before leaving.

* * *

Coco, Velvet, Megumin, and Simmons were standing in front of a small hut, quickly thrown together from metal, stone, and wood. It didn't look very healthy to stay in there, but Megumin and Velvet dragged the other two with them.

"Yeah, no. This whole thing's bullshit." Simmons said, looking at the sign. "I mean, Reading one's future? Unless there's a time machine in there, that's totally impossible."

"Don't be so pessimistic..." Velvet replied. "Stuff like that is always great!"

"A great way to waste money..." Coco scoffed. "I'm with Simmons, this is a dumb idea."

"Well, you never believed in magic before you met us, right?" Megumin said. "Future Readings are just as true as all your machines."

"Fine. But I'm not gonna spend a single cent in there." Simmons said. "Complete waste of time though..."

The four entered and looked around in the empty room. A few rugs and junk were scattered across the floor, while a counter, made out of the remains of an old boat, was standing in the middle. The only light was a dimp lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Man, this place's a trash heap." Megumin sighed.

"And all the Merchandise is really expensive," Coco added, looking at the price tag of a crystal ball, reading five hundred thousand dollars. "Who would buy that?"

"Oh, Customers!" A raspy voice came from a back room. A man, roughly in his mid-twenties, came into the main room. His hair consisted of hundreds of dreadlocks, standing up from his head, making it look like the aftermath of an explosion.

He put his thin arms on the counter and looked at the three. "What can I help 'ya with?"

"Uhm, we wondered if you could read our future?" Megumin asked.

"Sure." He reached under the counter and pulled out a crystal ball. "For all four of you?"

"Sure, why not?" Velvet answered.

The man started hovering his hands over the crystal ball for a few minutes, before giving his verdict with a shocked expression on his face. "Three of you are gonna be decapitated."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Why the silence?"

"Yeah, you're right. This was dumb." Megumin said and turned towards the door.

"I told you." Coco and Simmons replied in unison. "Let's go home."

"But... What if he's right?" Velvet asked, shaking in fear.

Coco sighed and hugged her Teammate. "Velvet, he's wrong. Like Simmons and I said, this is all bullshit. And look at him. That guy has probably spent all his life smoking weed and scamming people."

"I'm still here, 'ya know?"

"Yeah, you're right." Velvet smiled widely. "No reason to worry."

"Exactly. Now let's leave this trash bin of a shop. I'm hungry. I feel like my skin is starting to mold by just being here." Simmons said. The four of them approached the door, as the shopowner yelled out.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm right 30% of the time! And you didn't pay!"

"'Cuz we don't have any money to spare. Sorry!" Coco replied, and shoved everyone outside. There, a few of the Skirmishers walking around threw them a confused and worried look, before continuing on their way. "Seems like going in here is treated as something to look down upon."

"Understandable. Now, where can we get something to eat?" Simmons asked, and looked around on the plaza. "That looks like a Restaurant." He pointed at a slightly larger shack in the shadow of a few overlooking rock formations. A few tables and chairs were put outside, though they mostly consisted of rocks of varying sizes.

The four walked over to the house but stopped as Velvet spotted someone in the surrounding crowd. "Is that Fischer?"

"Huh? I thought he was with Bradford?" Megumin replied. Velvet waved, and sure enough, the Templar spotted them and walked towards the four.

"Fischer? What happened to your meeting?"

"I was thrown out. Looks like these Skirmishers are still as hostile as ever." He sighed. "At least this will give me more time to repair the Psionic Bay."

"Man, thrown out?" Velvet asked, scratching the back of her head and dropping her ears down. "That's awful. Weren't you supposed to be an ambassador or something?"

"Yes. Sadly, Bethos is not willing to fully work together. But what to expect from former Advent-Members. Miss Scarlatina, I hope that, once we finished the repairs, you will pay me a visit in the Psionic Bay. I feel like you have potential. Now then, I have to say my goodbyes." He left towards the Avenger, disappearing in the crowd.

"I heard there's bad blood between the factions, but I didn't expect it to this extent," Coco muttered to herself. "Velvet? You sure you want to learn some Psionics?"

"Sure, why not? More power's always a good thing." Velvet replied with an innocent smile.

"Tell that to the Meta..." Simmons whispered. "Can we get going? I'm really, really hungry."

"Me too," Megumin added. "Also, just a tip, don't get involved in this politic stuff. You'll just become boring people that sit behind desks all day."

"Not really interested in politics anyways," Coco replied. They started to make their way to the restaurant. "Especially in a heated situation like this. Better let the professionals handle this."

"... Isn't Sarge with them?" Velvet asked, stopping Coco in her tracks.

"I never said all of them were professionals."

"Sarge's great at... No, actually, you're right. Peace talks aren't his thing." Simmons opened the door to the Restaurant. "Anyways, let's get some food."

* * *

Weiss left the infirmary, trying to keep herself up inside her wheelchair. Her legs were still in a cast, making it impossible to walk. However, she was better off than Pyrrha or Yang. The latter had suffered inner bleeding and broken bones after being thrown around by the Hunter, and while she was awake, she wasn't allowed to leave the bed just yet.

Of course, that was still better than what happened to Pyrrha. After a small, talk, Weiss felt bad for her. Not only did she lose part of her skull, but she also lost all of her fighting spirits. That definitely wasn't good.

"Weiss?" The girl turned around, which was pretty hard with the wheelchair. In front of her stood Aqua, who had large, dark bags under her eyes.

"Aqua? You look terrible..."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Aqua replied and looked through the window into the infirmary. "I was up all night trying to heal them."

"I take it didn't work?"

Aqua shook her head. "Nope. I don't know why though. Healing their wounds, and yours should be easy for me... But somehow, all my magic isn't nearly as powerful as it should be."

"You were able to boost me back during our struggle against the Hunters though," Weiss said.

"I know. I can also still heal cuts and small wounds, but nothing major... And I've got no idea why. It's horrible." Weiss saw tears coming down Aqua's cheeks. "It was the thing I was best at, and now..."

"Yeah, it's bad. But you can still be helpful. We just have to leave the healing to modern technology, instead of magic."

"I guess. The medics here a pretty good, after all. And I can still help them out."

"Well, I know Kazuma called you useless here and there, as did some of the others, but personally, I don't think you are. You've got plenty of useful tricks up your sleeve, even if you are a bit... you know."

"Know what?"

"Well, mentally... Like, your brain... How should I say it?" Weiss shook her head. "Eh, doesn't matter. Look, don't feel down because you can't do that one thing, even if it's supposed to be the one thing you want to be good at. Just work towards being better at it."

"I guess you're right..."

"I kinda feel the same some time. You see, we Schnees are a bit special on Remnant." She held up one hand, creating a tiny, white glyph in her palm. "While, usually, everyone has their own Semblance, ours is hereditary. And the main part of it is summoning fallen foes. However, I've never managed to actually do it. Winter would spend hours training it with me, and I'd feel horrible for disappointing her when I failed."

"Uhm... As a Goddess and Archpriest, I can't really ignore that whole Necromancy stuff..."

Weiss jumped back in her wheelchair and quickly moved her hands around in the air. "It's not anything like that. What we summon is more like familiars, beings made out of Aura and Energy. We don't bring the dead back to live."

"Oh, okay. That's fine then."

"And do you think Pyrrha will be fine?" Weiss asked.

"I don't know. She probably won't fight for a while. Yang, on the other hand, should recover, it's nothing too serious." Aqua sighed heavily and looked at Weiss. "Want to get a Tea?"

"Yeah, why not," Weiss replied. Aqua ran up ahead, and Weiss was about to follow her, but stopped for a second, taking a last glance into the infirmary.

* * *

"I guess Fischer already went back to the ship, huh?" Blake asked as she, Bradford and Sarge left the office of Bethos.

"It's times like these that I favor the Reapers," Bradford said. "They don't hold these kinds of grudges for very long."

"Very true," Blake added and sighed. "What now? I don't think negotiations will go anywhere."

"Then we'll have to show the other side that they are trustworthy. The question is how..."

"If I may, how 'bout we call in a meeting for that?" Sarge asked. "My Team can easily come up with the best of plans. Me specifically"

"I hate to say it, but that will probably just make it worse." Blake pointed out. "What about we take someone from the Skirmishers onto the Avenger for the time being? He and Fischer could build some ties, and that'd be a good start?"

"That... That could actually work. It would take some time, but if we try to send them on missions together, then we would make progress. I'll ask Bethos about this. Maybe we can even get Pratal Mox back."

"Who?" Sarge asked.

"A Skirmisher we saved three years ago. He was aboard the Avenger for some time, but after we lost, he got called back here to help with security and resource raids. But at this point, the settlement should be well enough without him."

"Sounds good. We should do that." Blake replied, and the three started walking through the settlement. "Still, all of this is worrying."

"What'cha mean? It went pretty well." Sarge asked.

"I'm just worried about what will happen after we defeat Advent... Humanity would have to share Earth with the Skirmishers and maybe other Alien Species that'd be freed. From experience, I can say that this might not go well."

"Was it like this on Remnant?" Bradford asked, and pulled out his tablet to start writing the request towards Bethos.

Blake nodded and touched the ribbon on her head. "We Faunus were subjugated for a long time back home. Of course, that all got better over time, but there's still a lot of prejudice. Our island is even called Menagerie."

"That's messed up," Sarge muttered.

"Yep. A few years ago, some Faunus rose up to fight for Equality, led by my Dad. But five years ago, he stepped down and became the Chieftain of Menagerie. The new High Leader, Sienna Kahn, took his place, and under her Rule, the White Fang became far more violent. And then there was Adam, the Leader of the group I was a part of."

"You were part of a Terrorist Organization?"

"Yes, but I got out as it got too much. In a way, I can understand humans being weary of our species, but that's our own fault."

"It's true," Bradford added. "That could happen to the Skirmishers too. Thus, we have to make sure our species trust theirs before we end the reign of the Elders. Don't worry, Miss Belladonna, we'll make sure nothing will happen."

"I sure hope so. Otherwise, we could end up having a Civil War on our hands, if worse comes to worst-" Blake was interrupted, as someone bumped into her. It was one of the Skirmisher Guards, who quickly apologized.

"I am sorry. Wait, you are Central, right?"

"Yes. Why, soldier?"

"Here is something I was supposed to give you. Our recon team had made out an Advent Facility hidden in South Europe." He pulled out a small data chip and pressed it into Bradford's hands, before saluting. "Vigilo Confido!"

"Another facility?" Blake asked.

"Let's get back to the Avenger." Bradford looked at the chip. "Maybe this will be something useful for us."

* * *

 **And here's Chapter 12. (Finally)**

 **A lot of time has passed since the last update, and I apologize for that. There was some stuff I had to take care off, leaving me with not much time to write. But I'm back now.**

 **Now to replies:**

 **Ellight1: Thanks. The idea for that wasn't planned until Chapter five, where I realized that Three years might not have been enough time for what happened in the other worlds.**

 **nphillips0115: I hope I described the actual injury better in this Chapter. Also, Jaune helped a bit too, even if he didn't notice himself.**

 **ChronoHyperion: You have to wait and see. Yep, I know John Smith (most generic name ever, by the way). I can see him being an Advent loyalist.**

 ** ** ** **XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft********


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